The Necromancer's Bride
by AuroraAustralice
Summary: Hogwarts has fallen...the Order is dead. Hermione Granger has been on the run for months with little Teddy Lupin; no contact with friends, no contact with family and no magic...never ever. Until one day she is caught, thrown in a dungeon and then presented to Draco Malfoy...except he is no longer just Draco Malfoy. He is something else.. a beast
1. Blurb

**The Necromancer's Bride **

Hermione studied the sooty streets of the village at the edge of the woods from behind her hiding place. If one looked in her direction all they would see would be a pile of scrap metal, behind which was hidden a young woman... thin and malnourished, her once luscious brown hair that hung almost to her waist had been snipped to her shoulders and her once vibrant walnut skin now a dull brown from the lack of food and clean water.

The Order had been defeated, Hermione had just barely managed to flee when Voldemort's forces grew in power. She didn't know who was alive and who wasn't, had no way of getting touch with anyone and had no strength for magic. Everything was being monitored by Voldemort's forces, she had tried to steal an ancient radio but had almost gotten caught.

Since the Dark side had won anyone deemed unfit was being hunted to the ground, she knew they were looking for her. Her best bet was to stay low to the ground, let them believe she was dead. But unfortunately hiding in a tiny abandoned hut in the wilds of the Yorkshire moors wasn't ideal for her companion.

Right before everything had gone to shit Hermione had been grabbed by Remus Lupin and handed a sleeping Teddy before being told in a desperate voice to keep him safe... that was just after Hermione saw her mentor and former teacher falling to the ground under a killing spell.

Hermione barely recalled getting out of Hogwarts, her oldest memory of that night...waking up with a squalling baby Teddy clutched to her chest and her hands and legs slashed and bloody.

Merlin...she was so hungry, she had been sneaking out at night to try and find food for herself and baby, they had managed to survive thus far...just the two of them for nearly six months. But she could feel the weight of her luck running out.

Hermione wasn't normally a fatalist but today she could feel a certain chill in the air.

Hermione had put a charm on herself and her little charge, thankfully little Teddy was secured to her back in a little cloth pouch... fast asleep. As dangerous as it was having him outside, she couldn't leave a six-month-old baby by himself in an abandoned hut... especially without heat or a proper bed.

But Hermione was feeling apprehensive, for it being a Saturday the small village of Cumbria was silent... she normally counted on a crowd to be able to slip into her invisible glamour and take whatever food she could. In fact she and Teddy relied on Saturday market days so much because it was their only source of food.

Stripped of her abilities to do magic Hermione Granger was as resourceful as she could be but being on the run, starved and beaten down she was in a painful dilemma. Many nights when little Teddy wouldn't stop crying she would curl up into a foetal ball...sobbing and asking for redemption from this painful life.

The grey skies warned her that soon an icy rain would begin. She had no time, even though her instincts were buzzing on high alert she was so hungry that she had to get some food.

Her heart was palpitating, something was very wrong...her senses chanted 'get out-get out-get-out' but she was so hungry...so damn hungry... she had only eaten a stale bun since yesterday.

"We've been looking for ya...ya stinkin' mudblood cunt." Came a harsh voice suddenly. Her body flew into fight or flight mode but she knew, she knew her glamour was barely holding... he couldn't be sure it was her.

Hermione felt the cold, stinking breath of the Tracker on the back of her neck.

No...no it couldn't be, she had run all the way to the wilds of Yorkshire. Surely, they couldn't have caught her here. She had been careful, no accidental magic, no contact with anyone she knew for the past two years. She had done everything in her power to stay hidden and alive.

"Ya deaf bitch. I'm sayin' summat." She could smell his rancid body, the dirty smell of sweat and unwashed man.

She didn't have the strength to run and she knew that this Tracker wasn't working alone.

Hermione turned slowly, hoping to brazen it out...her heart continued to chant painfully behind her ribs...danger...danger.

Adopting the thick local accent, she bent her head.

"I'm the wrong lass, ye ain't looking for me. I've a sister...a sister who lives here." She added for emphasis.

"Move..fuck...move you fucking moron." She heard an alarmingly familiar voice behind the Tracker. A voice she had once heard in the halls of Hogwarts...now almost two years ago.

She hadn't really paid attention to that voice, refusing to think of the reasons why but she knew who it belonged to.

Blaise Zabini...

No!

She thought, tamping that down immediately because that would mean it was over. For her and little Teddy.

But sure enough like he was riding in on the cape of death himself came Blaise Zabini... dark and as handsome as the devil himself. Hopefully that wasn't an indication of what was to come in her future for being unable to fulfil the last wish of someone who had died protecting her.

She was in a word...absolutely fucked.

"Miss. Granger..." smiled the grim reaper, "I believe we have been looking for you."

**...**


	2. The Beast of Stormhaven

**A/N- Please make sure you read the bottom of the page for definitions, explanations or descriptions. Anything derived from the HP world will be marked as such while anything else, taken from my research or my own head will not be, a special shout out to the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which I consulted multiple times before beginning this story. xx **

**As always reviews are both appreciated and welcomed. **

**I**

**North Scotland, ****Post Second War **

The house-elf named Benny stared at the closed door apprehensively, the Master wouldn't like being interrupted but he was told that the business was urgent and of great importance to the Master.

Important enough to bother him during a ritual, Benny wasn't certain. He had only worked for the Master for the past few months but he knew him to be a dangerous man with little mercy... oh he had always treated Benny with respect but the aura of icy cold control that cloaked the Master was impeccable. And Benny was sure he never wanted to be on the wrong side of his cold gaze.

Benny had noticed that it terrified even those older and those reputed to be more powerful than him. Of-course the Master's appearance was one of great impact as well, he was handsome in a way that was both cold and sensual... like how one found dragons beautiful while still admiring their awesome power for destruction. Benny had always loved dragons, but his Master also taught him to fear them.

There were whispers about the Master, how the Dark Lord didn't trust him but was in need of his awe-inspiring magical abilities. That explained the oddity of his request and the unquestioned way it was carried out, despite its oddity.

He should knock, it was urgent that he tell Master of the new development.

Benny raised one shaking hand, his thin-bony fingers nearly brittle from clenching them too tight.

The sempiternal light that broke through the bottom of the door was a harbinger for what he was to see when he stepped in, it made him shudder...

The knock was like a penny drop in the silent eeriness of the cold castle.

"Come." The master's voice pierced the thick, heavy silence that seemed to conflate with the howling wind to create an atmosphere of depressive dead air.

Benny snapped his fingers to open the heavy door, studious keeping his eyes low, studying the runes on the door like they held the answers to the questions of the universe... merlin knew, they probably did.

Benny entered the room on silent footsteps, his bare-feet caused no sound. Just like the Master liked it.

"M...Master..." he began in his quivering voice, before taking in the scene before him and falling silent.

Draco Malfoy... heir to the Malfoy fortune and the one of the most powerful men in Britain, raised his head from where he knelt on the floor. The blue glow surrounding his alchemy circle pulsed with energy as he poured blessed water into a silver chalice.

"Not yet, elf." He rasped, "Your master is busy..."

The rumours that swirled around the young wizard were terrifying, they alone kept certain Death Eaters far away from the young man.

From what the house-elf had heard, a much younger Draco Malfoy had tried to run from his family home at seventeen... to join the resistance.

The elves below stairs talked about his punishment in hushed voices.

"Dragged back, he was." Nodded Betty, the senior most elf in the household nodded emphatically, "The young master, he was dragged back home kicking and screaming and was punished."

"Punished?" asked Benny, terrified of the man he was valet to, "How?"

"They say they tried to turn him into a wild-beast but it failed and now even the Dark Lord fears him." Betty whispered back, her large protruding blue eyes shining with some unnamed emotion.

Betty had looked after young Draco Malfoy when he was in the nursery, she loved the Master like he was her own.

"They tortured him for seven days and seven nights and when he emerged from that room... he was a changed man." Betty said, dabbing the corners of her eyes, "He was always a little selfish, the young master... a little reckless but he had a good heart behind all that. The Dark Lord changed him... he may not have been able to punish him the way he wanted to but he took his heart and ripped it from his chest... Draco Malfoy will never be fully human again." She said, crying softly into her pink apron.

Benny studied the man who all spoke of in hushed voices, The Necromancer, The Dragon Tamer... The Beast.

Indeed, if one saw Draco Malfoy now, they wouldn't recognize him from the ethereal, almost painfully beautiful boy he used to be. With his moonlight hair and mercury silver eyes... he had resembled a cherub from a renaissance painting, at least in colouring.

His beauty now was almost bestial... a result, it was rumoured of a concoction that the Dark Lord himself had injected into him. Something that was meant to break his soul but instead bound to it and made him unbelievably powerful. If he was a cherub before... Draco Malfoy was now the archangel Lucifer... stark and beautiful, leading his dark army against God.

Benny studied the Master covertly, even kneeling on the floor his powerful body looked like it was in constant motion, black runes covered his brawny arms, beginning from under his hair at the back of his neck... all flowing in harmony. Benny knew if the Master ever gave one of his faux smiles one could see the much longer canines that made his grin predatory. And his silvery eyes, the ones women found so alluring would often bleed to black when he was enraged.

Draco Malfoy was a savage now... a beautiful, brutal savage.

The world had speculated a great deal about what exactly Draco Malfoy was now... some claimed werewolf, some claimed veela but one thing was for sure and that was; that nobody knew what he was.

"Tell me elf... what makes you disturb my solitude." Came the raspy voice of The Beast who still knelt on the ground, his nimble fingers playing with a long, sliver athame.

"M..Master... word was received from Master Blaise today, he said to tell you

'One only daughter; his battle-brave son.

Is come but now, sought a trustworthy friend.

Beowulf is reported to have the strength of thirty men.

Who valuable gift-gems of the Geatmen carried.

As peace-offering thither, that he thirty mens grapple'" stammered Benny, repeating the confusing missive received today.

Blaise Zabini, the Master's second in command with Theo Nott was one of his closest friends and allies. They were perhaps the only two men in Draco Malfoy's vicinity that didn't fear him and instead treated him with the casual ebullience that came with a long-standing friendship.

But master Blaise was a trickster and often spoke in twisting, puzzling ways that a simple creature like Benny couldn't comprehend.

The house-elf was shocked when The Master rose suddenly, his savagely hewn face lit by the eerie blue surrounding him, his eyes wild but his face carved into a carefree smile.

"Beowulf aye. You have brought me welcome news elf. Look sharp, soon things will change...there is to be magic infused in this demesne ."

And with those words the tall man stalked out of the room, leaving the small creature wondering what had just happened.

...

The Beast rested his back comfortably against the stone polished leather... his glass had a healthy measure of amber liquor. The human Malfoy was more a part of him now than in the past three years when he had struggled to accept his dual identity, his rage at being made into an abomination festering silently in his chest.

Rejecting the human part of himself fully until some time ago... he had finally emerged from his miasma, stronger and more powerful than before and now there was nothing stopping him from taking what was always destined to be his. And revenge... it would be beyond sweet, he thought with a savage smile on his face.

...

Hermione was terrified, she had tried to struggle against Blaise but Zabini was tall and fit, strong like an ox and healthy... unlike her. She had barely caused him to break a sweat.

"Why?" she whispered, studying him from her corner in the carriage studiously looking away from the Threstrals that were pulling away from the only home she had known for the past few months.

Teddy was clutched in her arms, his plump cheeks red after a bout of screaming infant rage at being woken when she was struggling to get away from Blaise.

"Why what, _cara_ ?"

"Why me?" she asked, unable to stop the tears from leaking out of her eyes and falling on her cheeks. "Why did you hunt me down, I'm nothing... just a mudblood."

Blaise made a pained sound at the back of his throat, reaching out to brush the tears away... grimacing when she flinched from his touch.

"All in good time, Granger... all in good time." He replied before falling silent.

Hermione curled further into herself, studying him with wide, terrified eyes. Blaise Zabini, the harbinger of her death... she wondered why he had captured her instead of just executing her on the spot.

"Am I to be strung up... like you did with the rest of the Order?" her fear was palpable, remembering some of the snippet she had read whilst on the run of rebels who had been punished by Voldemort, their corpses put on lewd display on the gates of Hogwarts... a warning and a signal.

Blaise studied the small woman curled up in fear beside him carefully, his green cat-like eyes oddly gentle, "No little one, I'm glad I found you instead of any of the other search parties. I'm not taking you to the Dark Lord."

"Then where are you taking me?"

Blaise didn't reply, instead he reached under his seat and pulled out a basket. He wasn't showing it on his face but he was surprised at the infant in her arms. He didn't know who the child belonged to since he certainly wasn't Granger's.

The presence of the plump little infant was worrying but from the look on her face and the way she held the child it would not be possible to separate them.

"Come..." he invited, opening the lid of the basket and reaching in for one of Betty's excellent pasties, "I'm sure you're starving."

Hermione was... she was desperately hungry and the smell of meat, potato's and spicy herbs was filling the carriage. Yet she shook her head desperately, continuing to study him with fearful eyes.

"Are...are..." she swallowed heavily, "Harry or Ron or anyone from the Weasley family still alive?"

Zabini didn't answer her, instead gave her a veiled look before pressing the warm pastie into her hand. "Eat it, _cara mia_ you look starved to death. I'm afraid I cannot answer your questions just yet."

Hermione was beyond tempted, it had been months since she had eaten anything this substantial. Stealing or buying meat was unpractical since she had been on the run with no preparation unlike in seventh year when she had packed a bag of essentials.

No, no meat for her since cooking it in any of the places she was hidden would have attracted attention.

"I need some food for Teddy first." She whispered, ashamed that she was about to accept the offering of food from her enemy. She lowered her eyes, deciding to shut off the part of her brain that demanded answers; why was he treating her with such care? What was happening with the rest of her friends? Why did he look at her so gently? And the one question she was desperate to ask but didn't dare... where was Draco and was he alive?

But she couldn't... that would give her biggest secret away.

"Ah... I wondered who he was, the little _piccolo lupo _will get a meal. What does he usually eat?"

"Mashed up veggies, milk or formula." All the baby supplies Hermione had stolen were in their hut, including his milk bottle.

Blaise studied her gravely, "Will gravy work for now? I'm sure Betty can provide him with adequate nourishment when we arrive."

She nodded her head before turning away from him. Her head throbbed with a million questions but she wasn't able to open her mouth to ask them. At least until she had eaten.

"Come Granger, I'll feed the boy. You eat this, you look like you're about to collapse."

Hermione wanted to shake her head vehemently but her stomach made a hollow, groaning sound... one she had become intimately familiar with in the last few months.

Blaise handed her the carefully wrapped pastie before reaching for the baby. For the first time in six months her focus was entirely on her food, Blaise while seeming unfamiliar was children seemed to be handling putting gravy in the child's mouth with relative ease. He didn't even complain as the baby sputtered playfully and spit up the warm liquid on his jet-black robes.

With both charges soon fed, Blaise urged Hermione to get some sleep... she only started at him in mute horror before shrinking back into her little nook. But soon the rocking motion of the carriage and Blaise's seeming uninterest was enough to put her to relative ease.

Just closing my eyes for a second she thought, just a second...

Blaise Zabini saw that his charge had fallen asleep and could finally study her properly for the first time...

Hermione Granger looked little like herself now, during their last few years at school Blaise had noticed her burgeoning beauty. His Italian blood appreciated all kinds of beauty, especially the kind of beauty that turned a nosy little nerd into a woman who looked like a brunette Botticelli painting come to life.

But her body had lost its plump curves and given way to nearly painful thinness, her large eyes... amber and often lit with righteous light were now dulled... so large they were almost scary on her face, peering up at him with fear and indecision. Her wild corkscrew curls, once vibrant with life lay limp against her delicate, wan face... Draco would have a fucking fit when he saw her.

They were reaching the castle now, he hated to but he had to wake her. He wondered how she'd react when she woke up, probably with fear... after all a human's natural tendency in a situation of great peril were either fight or flight...

And Blaise didn't know how much fight was left in Hermione Granger anymore.

"Granger." He whispered softly, laying a hand on her shoulder, "It's time to wake up, love."

Hermione woke with a start, her first instinct was that of fear... she was in the cab of a carriage with a Death Eater. Must get away, her body chanted... even though that pastie had barely given her any strength.

"It's me, _cara mia _we have arrived." He bit his lip before uttering the words he knew to be untrue, there's nothing to fear here.

With Hermione startling awake, the infant in her arms who had been extremely good so far perhaps intuitively understanding his caregiver's fear and therefore his own had remained silent most of the ride. Fast asleep against the chest of the only mummy he had known, began to fuss. His soft hiccupping cry was enough to cause Hermione to focus her attention entirely on him.

She hadn't noticed the castle they had ridden up to. As the carriage halted Blaise stepped out and dismissed the large Tracker who had ridden at the back before helping Hermione out.

"Welcome to Stormhaven, Granger." He said gravely.

She eyed the castle with a mix of fear and apprehension, there was barely any light and the late autumn weather had stripped the leaves from the trees, leaving the castle looking cold and stark. A grim reminder that no matter how well Zabini treated her, she was a prisoner. The little boy in her arms fell silent again, his large brown eyes studying the barren landscape before them with a mixture of childish curiosity and fear.

On silent feet a woman; tall, muscular and the colour of ebony approached the trio.

"Granger, meet Ma'ati, the caretaker of this castle and the beasts within it."

And he didn't mean it as a joke. Ma'ati, the twin soul Orisha they had rescued in Togo was their insurance policy. Not that Hermione needed to know.

The woman was a warrior, Hermione didn't even have to look at her face fully... just the aura of power that radiated off her was enough.

"This is her?" the dark-skinned warrior asked in surprise, "Perhaps the Nandu is mistaken."

Blaise, Theo and Draco had rescued Ma'ati from Togo, once Draco's fever had broken and they had realized what had happened to him, they had had to work fast. Stumbling upon the Orisha had been a blessing; broken and bloody as she was they had taken her back to Stormhaven and nursed her better. Asking only one thing in return... a promise.

Blaise shot her a look before urging Hermione forward, thankfully her paralysing fear filtered anything else that was being said out.

"You may be the Orisha Draco found to kill him if he gets out of control, Twin-Soul but trust me on this he isn't wrong."

She nodded gravely before stepping in line with Hermione, carefully walking behind her.

Blaise studied the small woman, indeed... if there was anyone who could save his best friend now it was Hermione Granger or the Hermione Granger he used to know. He didn't know how she would react to this changed Draco, a savage, canny beast.

When Blaise had found him in Malfoy manor after the seven days of his incarceration, Malfoy had muttered only one name... the name of the muggle-born witch before him.

But the concoction that had been shot through his veins had changed him intrinsically. From Theo's research they had concluded that it was a mixture of several beasts but the two that had bonded to Draco's ravaged soul had been the Lethifold and the Nandu, both classified as highly dangerous; hard to kill but also the most bestial in their nature.

The runes that were now tattooed onto Draco's body by Ma'ati were there to control the nature of the Nandu and his necromancy... an effort to control the Shroud.

After noticing the awesome power, the concoction had given Draco, the Dark Lord had tried it on several followers but it hadn't worked. Enraged at his failure on both tasks; turning the rebellious boy into a mindless beast and the inability to recreate his power, the Dark Lord had banished Draco to Stormhaven... that was until his magic was needed.

The Lethifold's dark magic and the Nandu's beast like strength and resilience made Draco's magic, his necromancy as easy as flicking an eyelash from his cheek.

Theo; the scholar of their group had a theory about that. He thought that the natures of the beasts had found the broken and ravaged parts of Draco's soul to cling to and had clung to them steadfast.

Broken as he was after the pain he had been put through in the Great Hall; tortured by the Dark Lord and all his cohorts after being found and dragged back by his own family no less, the blood of the beasts had found purchase in his broken mind and ravaged body. Changing him into something new and powerful.

Theo was still researching the magic that had bound the beasts to Draco, so far, his research had come to naught but he continued to persist.

As Draco liked to say, his monsters were more a part of him than he was. But Blaise hoped that the one aspect had remained untouched.

The one no one dared mention...

...

The Beast studied the small figure clutching a bundle in her arms walk towards his home and internally... he howled.

...

**FIN. **

**Glossary**

**Nandu (HP)**\- The Nundu is a large East African magical beast that resembled a leopard. The Nundu was extremely hard to subdue. It had never been defeated by less than around one hundred wizards working together.

**Lethifold (HP)\- **The Lethifold (also known as the Living Shroud) is a carnivorous and highly dangerous magical beast. It is also considered a Dark creature because of its highly aggressive and violent nature.

**Twin-Soul-** Someone born with both aspects of men and women, worshipped in ancient Asian, Native American and African cultures. The twin-soul is what we would consider a trans person in our day and age.

**A/N- I know the JKR is a TERF but there is no room for TERFS in my work. Ma'ati is a descendent of the Yoruba people, worshipped for her magic and her unique nature. If you don't like trans people, you shouldn't be reading this.**

**Orisha**\- are spirits sent by higher divinities (such as Olodumare, Olorun and Olofi) for the guidance of all creation and of humanity in particular, on how to live and be successful on Ayé (Earth). Most Òrìṣà are said to have previously existed in the spirit world (òrun) as Irumole, and then become incarnated as human beings here on Earth. Others are said to be humans who are recognised as deities upon their death due to extraordinary feats accomplished in life.

For the purpose of this story the Orisha are also the only wizards in East Africa able to control the Nandu. Rescued by Draco, Theo and Blaise Ma'ati comes from an ancient line of people who can control and kill the Nandu.


	3. Animal Within

**II**

The room were cold, Hermione thought tiredly...

The tall Orisha woman had led her towards a small gate near the buttery of the ancient castle and then inwards towards the kitchens but they had stopped in one of the other rooms first, she didn't know why she had expected them to be warm.

She was so fucking tired of the cold.

Neither Blaise or the woman seemed to be bothered by it but little Teddy shivered now and against her chest.

"Umm... Zabini." She whispered, tugging on his cloak, "Not to be a pain or anything, but I'm freezing and so is the baby."

Blaise studied Hermione and for a second she thought she spotted a spark of amusement behind that stony façade.

Ever gracious Blaise Zabini whipped out his wand and lit the old-fashioned gas stove, it was the kind of old potbellied stove that gave off immeasurable heat and made a room cosy...

Hermione didn't think she had the ability to feel warmth anymore; at least the more metaphorical kind.

She had become numb, the constant running, the heavy responsibility of a child... she never thought of little Teddy as a burden, the more of his kind that survived, the more hope remained for the next generation. Maybe they would be able to accomplish what Harry and Neville hadn't managed to.

She was so thoroughly exhausted, the constant running, the energy draining strength it took to combat Dark Magic and looking after an infant had aged her.

"If you kill me." She said softly... suddenly, "Would you..." she choked before continuing, "Please put Teddy somewhere, somewhere in the muggle world. And please let me write a letter to him, explaining some things."

"I can't do that, Granger." Blaise replied evenly.

Hermione lost her temper, "One must be truly heartless." She sneered, "To want to murder a child, I didn't know your kind could stoop that low but I suppose my standards for even your bigotry are too high."

"Nobody is dying, Granger." Blaise scowled, "Not yet anyway."

She shuddered inwardly as he gave her a slow smile.

Hermione clenched her fists, until her nails made painful little half-moons on her palms, "Why have you brought me here?" she demanded, looking down and away from him, "What do you want from me?" the confusion around her circumstances had inured her, Blaise Zabini had the worst kind of mellifluous tongue but she knew it was like the tip of a poison dipped spear. He'd sweet talk her into her own demise.

"I'm tired Zabini, I won't run because I know I have no chance to escape and even dying doesn't seem that distasteful anymore but the child must live."

"A child didn't manage to finish Him last time either." He said under his breath, as if understanding the basis of her worst fear perfectly. "Besides." He began, but before he could continue his face went pale.

Hermione thought she glimpsed a brief expression of deep disgust on his face.

"I'm being summoned by the Dark Lord." He said evenly, his expression serene again.

She must have been mistaken then.

"I need to leave, Granger but rest assured we will continue this conversation when I return. Till then Ma'ati will look after you and please don't wander by yourself."

"I'm a prisoner, Zabini." She scoffed.

And for the first time that evening Blaise Zabini's countenance went almost deathly serious, "Granger, I want your word as a witch that you will not defy this order." His large hands rested on her shoulders and they were tight, she began to feel like their weight was pressing her further down... till I'm buried in the ground she thought hysterically.

She scoffed, pushing him away, "I won't wander."

Exhausted she leaned against the old brick wall and watched as Zabini left in a swirl of black smoke.

"You have a great deal of courage, witch." Came the smoky, deeply accented voice of the woman she had forgotten was even in the room, the one who was supposed to be looking after her.

"What courage?" Hermione scoffed with a bitter laugh, "I have nothing to lose other than my life, Ma'ati."

"Your pride, this child you hold so precious, your body or your soul... I'd imagine having no control over them would be worse than death, witch."

"Give me that impassioned speech the next time you have an infant screaming for something you physically cannot give or are starving in the wilds with nothing but water to drink."

She looked like she wanted to say something else but Hermione turned her face away, her trembling hand laid on Teddy little head where it rested against her breasts, "Will we be fed?" she asked defiantly.

"Of-course, you need only follow me."

Tired as she was, Hermione couldn't help but notice the deep gouges on the walls, created it would seem by monstrous hands.

"Zabini said you're the caretaker of all the beasts within this castle, what did he mean?" Hermione asked the silent woman striding in front of her.

"I have a propinquity for the damaged, witch... that's all he meant." She replied after a moment of hesitation.

Hermione sensed ... not that she was lying but that there was more to the story.

"So, these aren't the main kitchens then? Where you brought us first?"

She shook her head, "Master Blaise was meant to do more than just rile you up but since he was called away his explanation can wait. Betty will feed you and look after the child."

For the first time that evening Hermione felt a ripple of fear, if she was to be kept alive, she had to make sure that Teddy was at her side.

"Will she take him from me?"

Ma'ati glanced at the woman who had less than impressed her with a surreptitious look, "You're both barely human, you'll be separated for a brief while to get you in order."

Hermione stopped; using whatever vestigial strength was left in her body. "I will not let you take him from me." Her voice was firm, unyielding and for the first time since meeting her the Orisha caught a glimpse of the inner core of iron that made up Hermione Granger.

"I will bloody my hands before I allow this child to be taken from me."

The in the flickering light of the wall sconces Hermione Granger continued to cut a pitiful picture, thin, malnourished and dirty but Ma'ati glimpsed the unmeasurable strength in that small frame.

Iron made, Ma'ati whispered to herself. This witch was Iron Made.

**(*A/N- most folk religions including the Yoruba people who Ma'ati comes from deeply admire metal working and believe there is power in Iron. Ogun the Orisha of metal working is probably the most well-known of the 7 African Gods. So, when Ma'ati calls Hermione Iron Made she means it as a compliment of the highest degree.) **

"It is an order from the Master, witch but the child will be returned to you soon."

"Tell your master, he can snatch this child from my cold, dead hands." Her tone was bellicose.

The tall woman just led her forward wordlessly.

A large door made of oak appeared before Hermione, dim as the lighting was, she noticed it was carved with runes she was unfamiliar with.

Ma'ati pushed it open and Hermione was hit with the tantalizing scent of something cooking.

"Mistress." Came a squeak as she walked in, "Mistress Hermione, we have been waiting for you."

The voice belonged to a small, well dressed house-elf. She... at least Hermione assumed she was female from her get-up; a pink apron tied over an old pillowcase used as a dress.

"Feed them, elf and then take care of the rest." Grunted Ma'ati before abruptly leaving through the same door, "It is time for me to cast a protection circle."

And then Hermione was alone, as confused... if not more than before.

"Come." Squeaked the pretty little elf, "I have been told you haven't eaten in many days."

Hermione's arcadian expression was too much to hold in the face of such guileless kindness.

And before she could stop them tears began to leak out of her eyes, her sobs held in through sheer tenaciousness escaped unwittingly through her lips.

Betty startled, "Did I say something wrong, Missus?" she asked, distressed.

"No! No..." Hermione trembled, "I just haven't..." she sank to her knees so that she was face to face with the elf, "Haven't been spoken to so kindly in some time."

The tears persisted and Betty really looked at the young woman in front of her... in her sadness, Hermione Granger looked impossibly young and child-like.

"There, there." Whispered Betty stepping forward, "You've had a rough go of it, haven't you pet?" she didn't hesitate and her bony-fingers which Hermione thought would feel like sandpaper were oddly gentle as they brushed Hermione's hair off her forehead. "You and the little bairn will eat something and feel much better. Come sit at the table, I've made beef-stew."

Hermione allowed the blue-eyed elf to lead her to the rough-hewn table and whispered, "I haven't even asked your name." she sounded ashamed... either of displaying her weakness or her lack of manners.

"My name is Betty, I has been with the Master since he was a child." She said proudly, prodding the girl to sit down. "You can loosen the swaddling around the wee one now."

"You won't take him from me, will you?" she asked, her hand resting protectively on his little head.

"Just for a while." Betty's steady blue eyes locked with hers, "I swear on the soul of my Master, Missus that I will let no harm come to him but he will be needing a change and his food now. Once you're both washed and fed you can hold him again."

Hermione knew that Teddy would be getting querulous soon, "Can we remain near each other?" she negotiated.

The house-elf laughed, "I admire the way you look after him, Missus. Yes, I'm sure I can keep the both of you together."

She sighed and loosened the shawl that kept the baby tightly bound to her torso, allowing Betty to take and coo over him.

"What a handsome boy." Exclaimed the elf, clucking the child's nose impishly, "Oh you're a sweet boy, aren't you!" She cooed to him as Teddy's steady brown eyes looked up at her. And ever so gently one small, chubby hand reached out to grasp her ear in one tight baby fist.

At six months his little teeth were just coming out, he had recently learned to crawl and had the most enchanting baby laugh which he let out now. Hermione who was just about to free the elf stopped, listening in wonder at the innocent, pure laughter of this child who was her only link left to a world that she had given everything up for... her parents were gone, her friends...gone and as for the one she loved... thinking about him was far too painful.

She didn't know why she was here, what they wanted from her or why they were treating her with kindness but she knew she had to protect Teddy and maybe give him a chance to grow up laughing like that for many more years.

It was her responsibility.

"Teddy." She scolded gently, "You must not do that." She looked at Betty apologetically, "He does it to my hair all the time."

The elf batted away the apology, "It's been a long time since I heard a baby laugh." she said happily, "I has dearly missed that sound."

"You must eat now." Betty pushed her onto a stool, "I'll give you a small helping of stew with some fresh bread. It won't do your stomach any good if you eat too much and then I'll change him."

Hermione studied the room that she had been put into, the kitchens were lovely actually... not well lit but at least they were warm, dried herbs hung from a shining copper rack that housed several cauldrons, pots and pans.

"The Master does not much care for the light." Betty explained.

"Blaise?" asked Hermione curiously.

Betty just hummed non committedly before putting the stew bowl and sliced crusty bread down in front of her.

Hermione was distracted by the deep, rich aroma of the food and was dying to just dive right in but she restrained herself... just barely and dipped the fresh bread in the brown broth.

"Betty." She moaned, "This is wonderful! You're a brilliant cook!"

The house-elf giggled and blushed, "You are too kind." And turned to a sideboard, "'twas good that Master Blaise sent ahead that you had a child with you, otherwise it would have been hard to procure the proper items."

"He sent ahead?" she asked, confused.

"Hmm... yes, a few days ago in fact."

He had known where she was, Hermione's skin felt like it could combust... she wasn't so hubristic to believe that she was so highly valued in the chain of mudbloods and traitors that Voldemort would send one of his highly prized generals to keep tabs on her. Why hadn't he just killed her?

Her habitually overworking mind wanted answers.

"Who else lives here Betty?"

"Oh, just the Masters, you must finish your stew quickly and then allow me to give you a bath."

"Oh..." Hermione blushed, "You don't have to give me a bath, I can do that myself."

"Young Missus, not to be forward but the knots in your lovely hair will take extra hands to remove."

"Oh, I'll just cut it then." Hermione replied dismissively.

"No!" exclaimed Betty, turning from the side board where she had finished changing Teddy. "Your hair is beautiful and the Master will like it."

"Why have I been brought here Betty?" said Hermione slowly, her hands clenching into fists, "To be some Death Eaters whore?"

"No, it's not like that...but it is hard for me to explain." She whispered, looking down.

Hermione felt her questions weighing her down, would one of these grim bastards take her to bed? She might end up stabbing him in the eye and running, but she couldn't run without Teddy...

"I promise, you're not here to be somebody's...somebody's whore." Said the elf, appearing before her suddenly, "Come, he can have his bottle while you take a bath. I've prepared it for you."

Hermione was too tired to be insolent so she just let the elf lead the way, besides she didn't even know where she was...

...

So, she's here huh...

Draco stood outside the door listening to Hermione ask Betty, "Have I been brought here to be some Death Eaters whore?"

He wanted to snarl in fury, the two natures within him combating for control of his body... the Nandu... like a leopard; fast and aggressive and the Shroud... cold and insidious and from all that his human soul trying to stay atop the chaos within him.

If he was honest, he preferred the African beast, even though the Shroud gave him unimaginable powers of dark magic... the cold had crept into his soul and while he was afraid of feeling too much... he was more afraid of feeling nothing.

He had wanted her for so long, even if a big part of that wanting was punishment... he wanted to punish her for making him want her so much, did he blame her for the abomination he had become... maybe

But more than anything he wanted her... she was his, his human and his beasts agreed to that.

"Why are you here Master Draco?" came an angry voice from the corridor he stood in.

"Why... do I need permission to move around in my own cage, 'Ti?" he drawled.

"You know that isn't what I meant." It was rare for Ma'ati to blush but Draco's effect was hard to deny. Everything about the Shroud or the Lethifold was meant to entice one in and it had translated into beautifully savage sensuality in Draco.

"It isn't safe for you to meet her yet, she doesn't even know you're here. Or that you're this..."

"Wow, that was... insulting." He looked almost hurt.

"You'll see her soon, just please leave for now." She said averting her eyes. Because she knew the Master's eyes would be topaz, the brilliant eyes of the Nandu... feared and revered among her people.

Ma'ati was over three hundred years old, she had seen the change in her people... from magic to Christianity... her kind, Twin-Souls weren't accepted anymore, having to live in hiding... during the years when the Yoruba ruled, she was considered a shaman in her village... worshipped until she joined the ranks of those great priests and generals who eventually became the emissaries of God... the Orisha.

When Draco, Theo and Blaise had found her, she had made the mistake of being spotted by humans on the side of a river... they had left her broken and bloody unable even to use her magic due to her greatly diminished influence.

As she had recovered she hadn't believed a word of Theo's theory on what had happened to Master Draco but after convincing her to put the first sacred carving of her people's that was used to control the great beast on his skin and seeing the angry topaz eyes of the beast trying to fight back had convinced her.

Draco's humanity was slowly receding, if Blaise and Theo believed that this woman was the answer to saving him, she would trust them.

Draco swept past Ma'ati and even she who stood much taller than the average woman felt the force of his body and his height.

He tugged her tight braid, demanding her attention turn up towards him. "Thank you for looking after her." He said, giving her a wicked smile and brushing a kiss on her cheek.

How irksome, she thought ignoring the burning heat across her cheeks and her chest.

...

Hermione sat in the massive wooden bath with little Teddy in her arms... was there anything better than having a squiggly, naked baby laughing in your arms she thought. She was determined for the moment to keep her brain shut.

Her hair had been thoroughly washed and massaged with various oils by Betty, she had had her skin mercilessly scrubbed and the water had been changed twice... if she wasn't so thankful for getting clean, she would have been embarrassed. And now she and Teddy got to enjoy their bath as Betty detangled all her hair.

"You can get out now, I'm sure you'll both be wanting you bed." Said the house-elf.

"Can I have a few moments alone with Teddy, please Betty." Hermione requested politely... gratified when the house-elf nodded.

Shutting the door to the large bathroom behind her Betty went to get some fresh clothing for her charges.

"I love you, okay." Hermione whispered to the sweet-smelling infant in her arms, "And I'm going to try and do everything that I can to get us both out of here but most importantly I want you to know I love you and will do anything to protect you."

She didn't know if what she was trying would work, if worst came to worst but a girl could hope.

She stepped out of the bath and studied her reflection in the tall mirror propped up nearby... she had to turn away and so she swaddled and laid the baby on the warm rug on the floor, focusing on him.

Did her ribs really stick out like that?

Her eyes were kind of scary... she had always had a plump face, so seeing them so stark was a bit worrying.

Maybe she was overreacting...

She stood up, looked again... so many new scars huh... she was so meretricious, at least she hadn't lost a limb but as she lifted a hand to her breasts, they felt smaller... her heart thumped painfully, she didn't know she had looked like that. She had never been vain but she felt morose for some reason.

Stop it, stop it... people died Hermione, who cares if you lost a few pounds... people are dead... they are dead.

Yeah, they're all dead.

We can't think about that right now.

"Ah, are you ready, I can take you to where you'll sleep."

She jumped, brought out of her daze by the bright words of the house-elf.

Hermione painted on a falsely bright smile, thanking the elf for the flannel nightgown and the warm woollie clothes for Teddy.

Letting her know they'd be right out after changing... running right now was risky, she was too weak and they... although she had no idea who They really were, were allowing her to keep Teddy... she would stay... for now.

She changed quickly, stepping out to see if the elf was waiting for her but Betty had just nipped out to look for something else.

From the corner of Hermione's eyes, she caught a flash of silvery blond hair...

It couldn't be...

"Draco..." she whispered... "Draco is that you."

"I've missed you kitten..." came a familiar voice... like Draco's but a bit deeper... a bit wilder...

He stepped into the dim light... but that wasn't her Draco... she didn't know who that was...

"You're not him." She said, her last vain hope shattering around her, "Who are you?"

...

**A/N- Hi, so all the lore on Ma'ati is not accurate, it's mixed in with a little HP lore and some stuff thought up by myself. It's fiction! **

**I love reading reviews so drop me some if you're enjoying the story! Where do you think we're going from here!**

**The idea of Gods or demi-gods in this case being used as a part of the magical world is something I've taken from the T.V series American Gods. I'd like to play with mythology more in this story, let me know how I do. **


	4. The Mulberry Tree

**III**

**Mulberry Granges, Oxfordshire **

**A month after The Dark Lord's victory **

Arrity Middleshorn really hated serving Death Eaters and since the victory of The Dark Lord they had been frequenting her pub far too often for her liking. Of-course she was one of the lucky ones to have survived the Razing with her business intact in the village. Thankfully Mulberry Granges unlike London was a small enough community to help one-another out. To the extent that many old families, pure-blood and generational had helped their muggle-born neighbours escape by either hiding them or simply looking away as they escaped under the cloak of night.

The Three Headed Dog; her family's pride and joy was their pub, now in its hundredth year. Ari had returned to help her aged father after both her brother's had been lost in the Razing. She didn't know if they were dead but she kept hope alive.

After all, running the pub had never been Ari's dream but the Second War had destroyed her father...

Normally spry and healthy, for Amos losing both sons had been a blow he was unable to recover from.

Her family had always been on the conservative side, after all they were a breakaway branch of the main Middleshorn family that had served the Nott's for years.

Ari had bucked tradition by leaving the village many years ago. She had never wanted to just be a bar maid... but war made liars of us all, she mused.

She had wanted to escape the plutocracy of blood tradition and the strict and proper way it was adhered to or perhaps her Roma soul just wanted to wander but now she was back, she was fortunate to have survived with as little damage to herself and her soul as possible.

Mulberry Granges fell into the territory of the Notts and hadn't received the brunt of the Dark Lord's wrath, a decision that had ultimately led to their village being a tiny haven of peace in the chaotic and terrifying atmosphere of toxic hatred and dark magic.

The Nott family was one of the oldest in England, they weren't just a pureblood magical family, the Nott's had branches in the military, royalty and even politics. Historically the Nott's had been the facilitators of philanthropy in both the muggle and the magical world, their model of giving back to the common man a very literal version of _noblesse oblige;_ a term which was coined in France but had been adopted by British royalty as well. The Nott's had taken their privilege very seriously once upon a time.

One day when a much younger Ari had been at the main house doing a favour for her auntie who was their cook at the time, Merlin rest her soul ... in their country seat in Oxfordshire, the next county over from her own village she had found a book of their various contributions in a record that marked public buildings named in Nott ancestor names.

The numbers had been in the high hundreds... in places all around the world. Their philanthropy had included the funding and maintenance of school halls, university libraries and museums both muggle and magical in every continent on Earth growing even more powerful during the British colonial rule during the 1600's.

As the East India company had expanded taking all the muggle territory in India, the Notts had been their partners in the magical side of things... after all India was a treasure trove of magical artefacts and ingredients... with their powerful connections in the Parliament the profits had been split evenly between both the muggle House of Lords and the Nott family, it seemed the Nott's had a Midas touch.

But now Master Theo's father was old, he had been nearly fifty when Theo had come along. His first heir from his third wife.

Ebenezer... Theo's father was a gentle man but one with very few convictions and even less courage. As often one can afford to be with their level of privilege, he had been unable or unwilling to oppose The Dark Lord for a myriad of reasons ranging from he didn't wish to risk his wrath to it wasn't worth it to kick up a fuss.

Ebenezer was soft; a man with a scholars soul and the moral fibre of a limp salamander.

Ari felt that in this generation the Nott's had perhaps failed in their duty to those who they had previously felt obliged to. After all _noblesse oblige_ didn't just extend to Mulberry Granges.

She hoped Master Theo was okay, he had disappeared right after that poor Malfoy boy had been tortured. Ari had always had a soft spot for Master Theo, who was the same age as her youngest brother Auggi. He had always been the most seriously little tyke, carrying around those huge books whose titles Ari couldn't for the life of her understand... _Human Virology, Grey's Anatomy _since he was old enough to wedge them under his arm.

She had heard all about how he was in Scotland right now, after all village gossip wasn't easy to ignore. She knew him and the Malfoy boy had known each other but Master Theo was a good boy, decent and studious. She hoped he wasn't caught up in anything dangerous.

Stupid Ari, she chided herself... danger was now a part of their everyday lives. They couldn't move or speak without The Dark Lord's generals reporting back anything remotely related to a rebellion or secession.

"Wench." Came a harsh voice, an unknown face as always hidden behind a gory silver mask, "More of this pale ale."

"Ah." She startled, breaking out of her reverie, "I'm so sorry sir, I'm afraid that was the last barrel... I can offer you stout, a hefeweizen or some lager instead."

The unknown Death Eater grabbed her arm, "Do you know who I am, you foolish cow?" he hissed menacingly.

Ari tried pulling her arm back, "You're hurting me." She said calmly, "Please let me go. If the beer isn't to your liking, I'm sure I can provide you with something else; some elf-made wine or maybe something stronger."

"Fucking cow!" he roared and his drunken stumble forward would have been funnier if he didn't clock Ari on the head with a beer-mug.

Reeling from the blow she fell backwards, trying and failing to steady herself on the bar top. Merlin, she really hated working in a fucking bar... was her last thought as the darkness engulfed her.

And as if possessed her eyes glazed over...

"_Child born of first blood and old blood, _

_Child born of the witch and the dark beast _

_Will herald the end of the corruption within the heart of magic itself _

_The Dark Beast will rise as if burned from within_

_And with his flaming sword he will cut down the one who sits upon _

_the throne of skulls and vanquish the corrupter of enchantment._

_The Shroud and the Devil's beast will battle The Dark Lord. _

_Another war approaches. One that could end all." _

The Death Eater stood shocked, shaken out of his drunken stupor he watched the young barkeep's eyes roll to the back of her head as she rattled off the words in a curiously off-beat voice... he recognized what this was, anybody would... there were few real Seers left in the world any more but what had happened just now in front of him was undoubtedly that once in a life time event that few ever got to witness... a prophecy.

As she rose from where she had fallen on the ground his mind continued to reel...

A prophecy.

"You." He hissed, grabbing her shoulders, "What did you say? I need to hear it again. Who is the Dark Beast?"

Ari; dazed and confused dropped her head knowing that angering the Death Eater was probably not a good idea. "I do apologize sir." She laughed nervously, "If you'd just tell what you'd like to drink instead." She honestly had no clue what he was talking about

"What did you say?!" he screamed, "A prophecy! A prophecy! You made a prophecy. Tell me the prophecy again!"

"I... I don't know what you're talking about." She said, trying to back away from him. "Our family has few Divination powers, ones I am not privy too."

"Divination... your family, who are they girl?"

"I'm not sure... please stop... you're hurting me!"

The truth was she did know, the Middleshorn family had generations of Roma blood within them. The Rom were prolific fortune tellers, skilled in all aspects of looking through the mists of time. The Rom carried a vast majority of magical blood within them, their magic was like their preferred element to worship... air, it was wild and untamed rarely grown and nurtured through schooling or study but strong nonetheless.

The power of Divination had existed in her family for generations, however Ari had never shown an affinity to it but as the numbers of true Seers shrunk it was entirely possible that a dormant ability within her had come to the fore.

But before she could even register the impact of having giving a prophecy the Death Eater was already drawing his wand.

"You're coming with me." Growled out the Death Eater and before Ari could fight back, he had already cast his spell knocking her out just as she reached for her wand.

The Death Eater dragged her unconscious body out from behind the oak bar... he wasn't looking forward to presenting the witch to his Master, after all just how many prophecies of death could one creature survive?

...

**Stormhaven Castle, Scotland **

**Present Day, The North Tower **

Theo Nott was exhausted, he shut his journal and rubbed his eyes with his ink stained fingers. Something strange was happening, he had checked and rechecked his findings multiple times. His white lab coat was riddled with blood and other foreign substances and he was looking more and more like a mad scientist every day. He sighed, he really needed to get out into the sun... this working all night thing was making him look like an Inferi.

If one looked at Theodore Nott, they would probably think he was reading science at a university. Which wasn't far from the truth, Theo Nott hadn't been friends with Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini when they had been at school... intensely studious, highly academic and with a mind that would have been considered to be in the genius range if he had ever attended school with muggles, Theo thought himself above the whims of both the magical and the muggle.

Born in a noble family Theo's father who was his best friend and confidant had instilled the joy of great art, scientific discovery and classical music within him.

Theo was fascinated with humans and their relationship with magic, a fascination his father nurtured and encouraged.

During his sixth year at Hogwarts Theo was probably the only person in his entire batch to have selected Potions and Muggle Studies together despite being in Slytherin where muggles were not just loathed but reviled, considered almost base.

But Theo's fascination with science and magic was protected by his privileged upbringing... in Slytherin where money and influence was might no one dared question the strange Nott boy who was often satisfied with his own company quietly reading large tomes in the common room. His batch mates found him, his study material and field to be strange... the concept of an academic, after all just didn't exists within their community.

But Theo wasn't just an academic, he believed his research in isolating the biological and chemical compounds that gave them magical abilities would change the world. And it was indeed, ground-breaking work but in theory alone. Before he could move on to the trial stage the second war had broken out, hampering him.

Theo had studied science, history, sociology and politics... as the only son of an old family that continued to thrive economically it was not just his duty but his responsibility to be educated in all that entailed being a Nott.

Theo however was best when left alone in his lab, a curious mix of the magical and the mundane. His lab had both high-tech equipment, most of which luckily didn't run on electricity, his father had had them commissioned on his sixteenth birthday as a surprise present and they ran on Lithium and the full accoutrement of a potions lab; a magical cupboard stocked full of newts eyes and Augury feathers.

He had seriously started his research into the existence of magic in the human species only in his last year of school. He had hoped to actually attend university with muggles to study chemistry and microbiology but then the war had broken out and ruined his plans so he had decided to stay home.

After all his father's health was failing... it was his duty as the son of the house to protect his elderly father and his gently bred but flighty mother.

When Blaise Zabini approached him a week after trying to nurse a ravaged Draco Malfoy back to life in his estate in Oxfordshire many months ago. Theo was immediately taken by academic zeal again. After all, when did one get to study such a rare phenomenon of dark magic and biology up close?

They had needed his help, Draco Malfoy was dying after all.

His parent's after pledging their support to the Dark Lord had been left alone but he kept an eye on their estate because he knew greed to be a human condition and that there were always those who sought to take away what his family had cherished and protected for millennia.

Over the last few months the men had all become firm friends, Theo had easily integrating into the strange triad.

Pushing his smudged glasses back up his nose he studied the slides he had previously taken from Blaise and a muggle born witch in captivity. He had to send an owl to Blaise immediately, there was something strange going on that he couldn't figure out.

After slow and painful work over the past six months Theo had managed to isolate a chromosome through Karyotyping that he was tentatively testing for genetic markers of magic however all his samples had been contaminated overnight. After questioning everyone in Stormhaven and rechecking his memory of how he had stored them he was convinced that the contamination was a delayed reaction from the blood itself.

The isolated genome that he had noted in his previous research before abandoning because testing it had led to nothing was the culprit as far as he could tell but it was confusing and slightly alarming that both blood samples had been contaminated seemingly from within the blood itself in the same way.

Was this an indication towards a different mutation of their magical abilities?

After all it was affecting pureblood and muggle born the same?

Blaise had mentioned to him the heightened tensions in all the latest meetings of the High Council; the Dark Lord's government of sorts... created after the second war and chaired by his more ardent supporters.

What Blaise hadn't mentioned however was if the agitation was simply excitement or something more sinister.

With his journal put away, Theo grabbed a blank parchment and wrote his missive.

_Dear Mr. Black, _

_Brother and sister are sick again... would it be possible for you to send across some more medicine for them?_

_Their illness this time was abrupt and concerning, we must convene with plans for their quarantine most urgently. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Mr. Salk _

After being moved to Stormhaven; Draco, Theo and Blaise had developed their own method of encrypting their owl messages. Knowing their words were probably being read by multiple men in the Dark Lord's new MIF.

After winning the war Voldemort had quickly moved to consolidate his power, including setting up two powerful new branches of government where before they had only had the Wizengamot. The Trackers and the MIF or Magical Integrity Force were made up entirely of Death Eaters and loyalist... brutal and unprincipled, they were under his direct command.

Much like a muggle spy agency the men commanding the MIF were directed to read all communitarian by people on their watch list and immediately report back on any rebellion activities. After all the Dark Lord had never agreed to being a democratic leader.

Theo's whose secret hobby and obsession was muggle spy novels had torn into the other two men about leaving all their communication out in the open and after moving in had instituted several security measures he had read about in novels to try and keep them and their activities as safe as possible.

Blaise in particular was their emissary into the outside world since Theo was most comfortable in his lab and it wasn't safe for Draco to be outside among large crowds of people for a long time due to his beasts abilities... particularly the Shroud's ability for seduction.

If the Leithifold had taken over Draco completely Theo had no doubt it would have influenced him towards cannibalism but the Nandu's presence fought with the Shroud internally for power so he had never descended into its full depravity.

Just as he was about to summon an elf to take his letter, there was a knock on his tower door.

"Ah Benny, I was about to summon you." Said Theo, handing him the letter.

"Master Theo, Master Blaise has said this was urgent." Squeaked the little elf, handing him a parchment stamped with the bright red words URGENT on it.

"I can see." He said dryly before tearing the seal impatiently.

It was merely two line.

_Dear Mr. Salk, _

_It would seem the Mulberry tree has been wrenched far from home and left to die in the shadows, what a pity... what a pity... _

_Yours,_

_Mr. Black. _

Mulberry Granges, a village near his home... what had happened? After all Blaise would never have put such a blatant identification of what or who he was referring to in a letter.

As it turned out Zabini had a natural penchant for espionage work. But this slip up indicated something serious was going down.

He wondered what?

...

"Up up up, kitten." Came a soft voice near Hermione's ear. She tried to open her eyes but there was a covering over them and the events of the evening before she had been Stupefied ran through her mind... the man that looked like Draco and also nothing like the Draco she knew. Who was he?

Her hands were tied above her head and from the movement of air around her she could tell she was till in her flimsy nightgown... Gods it was cold.

"Please." She whispered, "Who are you and why am I tied up?"

"Tell me my dove, you don't recognize your own lover." He tsked... his voice was all she could tell, he had blindfolded her and trussed her up tight.

"Is it really you Draco?" she asked, her voice soft and vulnerable.

"He's not alone." Came a voice in her ear, Draco's mixed with something dark... malevolent... cold.

Involuntarily her mouth opened in a silent scream.

Help me someone, she thought desperately, help me.

...

**Theo refers to himself as Mr. Salk in the letters, an important clue of what is happening is in his name ;) Slightly inspired by the Coronavirus pandemic *shrugs* you get inspiration where ya do! **

**Reviews are loved and appreciated xx **


	5. Martyrdom

**IIII**

_**Hogwarts Castle, The Dark Lord's Base of Command **_

_**A month after his victory**_

* * *

Yaxley studied The Dark Lord covertly, as a long-time follower he knew the various tics that gave away his anger. One of the younger recruits; Cieran Parkinson who came from an ancient and well thought of family within Pureblood circles had been out drinking and had run across a Seer one who had given a prophecy, one that foretold His death again.

They had just watched the memory of the young Parkinson boy together, noting almost immediately that it wasn't a false prophecy. Few prophecies given were ever accurate but one given by a true Seer as the young girl who had been dragged in front of the Dark Lord seemed to be were to be feared since they were most often the truth.

The Dark Lord was in a wicked mood, his palpable anger filling the room to suffocating.

"My Lord..." prodded Yaxley, "What do we do?"

Voldemort caressed Salazar's locket, which sat on his bony chest. When the Potter boy and his two little cohorts had been hunting the Horcruxes it was Slytherin's locket which had caused the Weasley boy's death.

Unknown to Potter and the mudblood girl it was Yaxley who had found Ron Weasley in a run-down bar... it was Yaxley who had followed him when he had finally decided to take the locket off and return to Harry and Hermione and it was Yaxley who had murdered Ron Weasley in the woods and taken the Horcrux back to his master.

The last Yaxley had heard, they still didn't know where Ron Weasley was or if he was alive. That had been his intention all along, without the mudblood girl's magic the Weasley boy in particular was like a sitting duck... unaware of his surroundings, lacking in any particular caution or great magic. Killing him when he was by himself had been a task so simple... it was almost unworthy of Yaxley... one of the most senior in the Dark Lord's ranks. The body had been tossed in the wood, for a blood traitor even being eaten by wild animals was too good of a burial.

After that the locket had been returned to the Dark Lord.

Voldemort turned calmly to his faithful general, "No one must know about this." He hissed out, "The Prophecy will not come to pass. This time I will stop it from the beginning, bring me Severus."

Yaxley bowed his head before backing out of the room.

Lord Voldemort studied the roaring blaze of the fire, something had to be done. This prophecy like all the others before it was ambiguous at best, he didn't know the actors within its parameters, he didn't know who the the Shroud was, after all they had experimented on several mudbloods and blood-traitors.

But he knew the harm of allowing this prophecy to stand as it was but this time his approach had be impersonal, his own arrogance had been his downfall last time. This time no stone would be left unturned but he wouldn't be on the frontlines. No, the work would be carried out by his most faithful.

He clenched his fist; the papery white skin going taut over his brittle bones. The solution this time would be permanent and anyone who refused it would be killed.

He had been thinking of a more permanent answer to controlling the magic of the masses and Snape was just the man to task with this project, after all a gift like magic belonged only to those with the purest of bloodlines untainted by commonalty.

"My Lord, you called for me?" Severus Snape's nasally voice sounded outside the door, pulling Voldemort out from his reverie.

"Ah Severus..." he hissed, pleased to see one of his most loyal generals, "Enter... enter, my boy and sit. I have something of great importance to discuss with you."

Having being roused from his home in Spinners End, Severus Snape wasn't dressed in his usual black robes but instead in a pair of trousers and a shirt; his long hair tied back in a que.

He looked the same as he always had; his waxy skin; pale and sallow and his unpleasant mouth turned down in a nearly permanent frown.

He bowed as soon as he entered and then went up upon the dais that elevated the Dark Lord's throne, kissing the Gaunt ring on The Dark Lord's bony finger... the same dais that had once housed the long teacher's table in the Great Hall.

Voldemort was already seated, his body tired often these days. Even normal everyday tasks would make him weak and often draining his power to a dangerous degree.

"I have a job for you, my boy... no indeed, two jobs." He said, looking at one of his most faithful men carefully, "You will need all the help, for they are difficult tasks I am putting before you but they must be done to secure the future of our way of life."

"Your command, my Lord?" said Snape, studying the oddly fragile countenance of the man purported to be the most powerful dark wizard of all time.

Voldemort thought carefully, his request would not leave this room. Not until he was certain of his victory against this unknown adversary.

"I want you to create a potion, Severus."

"What kind of potion, my Lord?"

"One that gives me mastery over magic at the most elemental level. I wish for you to make me something to control the magic within our population... something that could destroy their magic from within... if they choose not to follow our rules. Something that dooms them into living a life without magic if they decide to rebel."

This request wasn't as strange as one might imagine... after all it was Severus Snape who has come up with the concoction, they had used to turn Draco Malfoy into what he was now. He was the architect of the nightmares that plagued the muggleborn's living in captivity within Hogwarts's dungeons.

"My Lord..." began Severus, "That doesn't sound like something that people will agree to have within them."

"Oh, I have ways to get people to agree, my boy." He hissed out... a cold smile on his face. "Use the traitor Malfoy's magic... he will help you develop it with his Necromancy, it will make the magic more potent and powerful. Once you have something of note, we will test it on the mudbloods within our captivity before spreading it among the rest of our people."

"As you will it my Lord."

"Ah Severus, a few other things... the production of this magical suppressant mustn't leave this room and I wish for you to find a way for me to reabsorb my Horcruxes."

"Your Horcruxes, why?"

"After the destruction of so many of them, I am no longer inclined to believe that parts of my soul outside my body will give me the immortality or the power I crave. To wield what I have now I must have more strength, my prowess is weakening. It makes me look like a weak leader, a position I cannot afford to have in this den of snakes."

Snape nodded his head thoughtfully, "With the Malfoy boy's dark magic making a potion and finding a way to fuse the Horcruxes back within you shouldn't be a problem. It might take a few months however."

"No one must know Severus." Said Lord Voldemort, tipping Snape's chin upward making him face the Dark Lord.

Snape looked into the Dark Lord's vulpine eyes, an unreal shade of green, almost pearlescent in their shine... like the scales on his beloved Nagini. So hypnotic, so cruel... his eyes told the story of what would happen if Snape decided to betray him.

His delicate body belied the strength of the Dark Magic within it.

...

_**The Sunken City of Venice **_

_**Present day**_

* * *

Harry James Potter studied the picture in front of him. His underground bunker was devoid of anything other than the basic minimum required to sustain human life and sheets upon sheets of battle plans, letters of apologies and notes of self-recrimination.

"She looks half dead." He said, sliding his finger down the picture of Hermione Granger entering Stormhaven castle.

The man leaning against the wall made a non-committal sound, "When I first saw her, she was close to being dead, Potter."

"Does she know?"

"Know what?"

"Anything? Why she's there, what's become of Malfoy, who all are dead, who're alive?"

Blaise Zabini shrugged, his shaggy head leaning back with all the indolence of a young aristocrat.

If Harry didn't know better, he'd have thought that Zabini was playing a game and didn't care about what they were talking about the scantest bit.

"So, she has Tonks and Remus's child with her, huh? It's just like Hermione, to fight tooth and nail to protect him without even trying to save her own skin."

Blaise shrugged again, his dark cloak falling open to revel a sheaf of documents he had brought for Harry to look at.

"Do me a favour, Zabini." Said the Boy Who Lived, taking off his round glasses and wiping the lenses... a move Zabini was intimately familiar with now.

"Don't tell her how Ron was killed, she'll blame herself."

Zabini stepped out of the shadows to lay his hand on Harry's "Like you keep blaming yourself?" he asked softly.

Harry snatched his hand back, ignoring the thrill of electricity that ran down his arm when the tall Italian wizard touched him, "Don't touch me." He said shortly, ignoring the question.

Zabini let out a short laugh, "That wasn't what you said the last time I visited, Potter." And drew away.

Harry kept his gaze focused on his desk, his hands clenched "You should leave now."

"I think I might."

And with that Blaise Zabini walked out from the bunker, grimacing when he heard Potter's low moan of...longing? Anger? Fear? Despair?

It was a mixture of them all.

Harry Potter played the defeated martyr well.

...

**A/N- Hi all apologizes for the short chapter but worry not, due to social distancing and a near total lockdown of my city I now have plenty of time to devote to fanfiction. I think I made a made a A/N last time saying the story might be 70,000-80,000 words but I might extend it to 100,000 and add a few chapters. **

**Leave a review, I love reading what you guys have to say! **


	6. Memories

**V**

**Stormhaven Castle **

**Present Day **

Draco Malfoy studied the bound form in front of him, he could hear her panicked breathing. The part of him that remembered Hermione Granger as his north star and the love of his life was dominated by the part of him that wished to punish her for her hold over him.

He knew it was the entities that existed within him that wished to hurt her but the rational, human part of him was indelibly combined with their consciousness to the point where he didn't understand where his desires began and where theirs ended.

The few times his human consciousness surfaced fully he had demanded that Blaise abandon the quest to bring her to Stormhaven citing how she was one of the only people the intelligent beasts inside him could hold against him. He would surrender whatever little was left of his humanity to make sure they didn't hurt her. Blaise's counter-argument had always been the same; maybe she would be able to help him live with if not overcome the entities that existed within him now.

But even now, he had her tied and blindfolded because somewhere in his mind he was ashamed to show her what he had become. What they said he would become... a beast.

Of-course they hadn't anticipated his power, that was perhaps the only thing that had prevented The Dark Lord from locking him up with the rest of the mudbloods, blood-traitors, rebels, Order Members and Ministry officials who had chosen to defy him.

He had bound one with the runes taken from Ma'ati's people and agreed to sign a devil's deal with the other one, and signing a blood bond with a beast wasn't the most erudite of choices, those weren't decisions his human half was proud of or had even understood the full consequences to but they also allowed his human half to exist after nearly being exorcized.

Morality after all, was not the first consideration of a man on a sinking ship.

When Blaise had found Draco being dragged out of Hogwarts, the human half of him was so broken, fundamentally... irrevocably and it made his relationship with the creatures within him was complicated, they held together a human boy's suffering body and mind and healed it, the animal had taken over what the human within couldn't handle; the crushing betrayal and the endless pain inflicted upon his body.

But both creatures within him lay the blame for their weakness, their humanity in this new body squarely upon the woman in front of him. They knew that Draco Malfoy... human, would lie, cheat, steal and even kill for Hermione Granger. An emotion of pure selflessness that they just didn't understand.

"Granger." He said softly, modulating his voice, "Hermione."

She let out a sob, her body straining against her bindings, "Please I don't know what you are or what you hope to accomplish by taking on this form. I know he's dead."

So, she sensed he wasn't fully human, Draco thought with a wry laugh. She was so afraid that her entire body shook at his presence and the Death Eater lie had been fed back to her, she thought he had been killed that night his father had dragged him away from the pseudo Order safehouse he had gone to.

They had been so young, so naïve to think that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy would allow their only heir and Voldemort's payment for their failures to escape.

Shaking back the memories of that night he leaned forward ignoring her shudder of fear and pierced the soft skin of her delicate neck with one of his canines.

The Leithifold's poison when used in a tiny quantity, was meant to calm their victims sending a relaxant and an aphrodisiac rushing through their bloodstream.

Hermione sagged against him, her body going limp but the ropes around her arms kept her held up.

"It's me Granger." He whispered softly into her ear again, unable to look into her eyes because of the blindfold. He relied on his other senses to make her acknowledge him beyond her fear. "I'm not dead."

"Come closer." Mumbled a dazed Hermione, sighing as his arms tightened around her, "You smell like Draco." She whispered, "You smell like pine-trees and sandalwood... you know I used to tease him about that fragrance."

Her speech had slurred a bit, an effect of the poison. Tears must have welled up in her eyes because they ran down, under the blindfold but her voice was soft...like she was reliving a favourite memory.

Draco was almost jealous... but many of his memories from before were hazy.

"I wish you hadn't tied me like this or blindfolded me." She said softly.

"They're for your own safety." He said, "Or the blindfold is anyway." He didn't want to see her looking at him like an imposter again.

She struggled against him drunkenly, "Let me go I want to touch you too."

The wild part of him howled in satisfaction after hearing her words but he knew she was probably touching the same version of him as in her memory and suddenly he wanted to rip the blindfold off.

He cut the ropes that held her arms up but left the blindfold on. She lurched into his arms almost immediately, snuggling into the space between his neck and his shoulder, "Mmmm..." she murmured, "You smell the exact same, Draco. I know you're just a part of my mind but you're as warm as ever."

You should take her, whispered a sly voice inside his head... just a little bit of her essence, her magic would tide me over. The venom has worked on her and after all... you were lovers.

The Shroud was right; a small meal of her powerful magic would tide It over till Draco could go hunting again. Somewhere at the back of his mind the human part of him was screaming... this is wrong.

"Tell me all the things you have missed, kitten." He whispered silkily into her ear, easily sliding her pliant arms around his neck.

Hermione felt so airy, the voice in her ear had changed to the one she loved so dearly, if a little deeper.

"I miss school, everything was so much easier then." She sighed into his ear, "Do you remember how we began seeing each other?"

Draco carried her over to the padded bed, the dungeons where he had brought her were in a secret part of the castle unknown to almost everyone other than him and Betty.

"Fifth year, right before Hogwarts broke up for the summer." He answered, a memory coming suddenly to him.

"First time you called me kitten." she replied, her soft lips turning up into a smile.

...

**Hogwarts Library, Winter Semester **

**Draco's 5****th**** Year **

"_You know Malfoy... I almost feel sorry for you, it must be so reassuring to think you have the answers to everything in life. Muggle-born's are an abomination, magic is only for the elite, Slytherin House's values aren't outdated or unnecessary, magic is the only way of life... you leave no room for a margin of error or the actual pleasure of life and magic... that we live to explore new things." _

"_Granger, just because I've been paired with you for Potions doesn't mean I need to listen to your incessant jabbering." He replied shortly, flipping the pages of the book until it landed on the plant he was looking for. _

"_I don't know why Professor Snape decided to partner us up." She mused, laying her head on her arm as she studied the rest of the students in the library giving them wide berth. _

"_Probably because I told him to stop jabbing his giant nose into my goddamn business." Draco muttered under his breath. "And he wanted to punish me." _

"_Oh!" she perked up curiously, "What business?" _

_Draco was about to respond with a sharp retort but as he turned towards her Hermione was simply studying him with innocent curiosity, her head cocked to the side like a curious kitten. _

_Unable to stop himself he reached for one corkscrew curl before she could protest and gave it a tug, feeling a strange pull of affection towards her, "Nothing you need to know about, kitten." _

_Hermione blushed a violent shade of red before dropping her gaze back down to her notes, "You really shouldn't give me nicknames, Malfoy." _

"_Oh, and why is that?" he asked amused_

"_I'll make the mistake of thinking you actually like me." She whispered before looking away. _

_Like her? Like her?! _

_She was the most annoying woman he had ever encountered. _

"_Don't make that mistake then, mudblood." He answered coldly, feeling oddly despondent when she turned away from him with a sad... almost pitying smile._

_..._

"Weren't we lucky to get paired up in Potions?" she whispered. "Or maybe you weren't so lucky... since you met me and now, you're dead." she laughed sadly.

Hermione was sure she was dreaming, her body was humming with a strange mixture of languor and excitement. The voice in her ear and the hands that touched her were Draco's, they held her with the same gentleness as she remembered.

Draco kissed a line down her neck, she was still wonderfully responsive he thought, his thoughts almost disconnected from his actions.

Lucky for us, whispered that dark voice in his head again. The perfect prey...

"Tell me more, Granger? Remind me of the first time we kissed." he urged, sliding his large hand up and down her back.

His memory of their first kiss was so hazy that he needed her to tell him, maybe in a desperate attempt to push back on that insidious voice.

...

**Hogwarts, Winter Semester **

**Hermione's 5****th**** Year **

_Granger, meet me on Astronomy Tower for Potions at 9 PM._

_P.S- I'll punish you if you're late _

_-M _

_Hermione read the note with a laugh, it was Saturday and she was sleeping in a bit longer than anticipated. The note had come at the right time since there was no some in the dorm other than her. _

_She wondered what he was up to, since she had dared Malfoy to read Paradise Lost in the library last week, they had not met up even once. She wouldn't say her and Malfoy were friends now... but he had stopped snapping at her which was allowing her to make inroads into 'Project Make Malfoy Eat His Words' _

_It had started off as a silly game for her to play with the stuck-up Draco Malfoy but what had surprised her was the fact that he was willing to play along._

"_Read just one muggle classic." She had mocked him, "I assure you that your assumption that all muggles are animals will not only be blown to shambles but you'll also find yourself enjoying the literature." _

_He had just scoffed, which she had taken for a yes and had insisted on pressing the library's copy of Paradise Lost into his hands. _

"_This is harassment, Granger." He had protested. _

"_I assure you Malfoy." She said airily, "While there are many areas that muggles are far ahead of wizards none make it more abundantly clear than literature. You should take it for the sake of research." _

_He had taken the book from her disbelievingly._

_Astronomy Tower huh? How intriguing... _

_Hermione could hardly wait for the clock to strike 8:30, she was jumpy and nervous... like for a first date which was silly. _

_This was more bookclub than anything. _

_She slid down from her dorm, happy and relieved to see Harry and Ron in a fierce wizarding chess match. They were so busy, they didn't even notice her covertly slip of the portrait hole. _

_Since the Astronomy Tower was the opposite end of Hogwarts from the Gryffindor dorms, she had to shiftily make her way to them, avoiding Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad. _

_Being friend's with Harry James Potter really made a difference in these times since he knew all the hidden nooks and crannies of Hogwarts's and had very generously shared the knowledge with her when she had been saving his disaster-prone arse. _

_She quickly made her way across the school and up the tower where Draco Malfoy was waiting most impatiently. _

"_This was..." his face made a sour moue, "Acceptable. Are there more like it?" _

"_Why Malfoy." Hermione said, clutching her chest in faux outrage, "Don't tell me YOU enjoyed a MUGGLE book! Shocking, appalling, utterly beyond the pale of decency. You should be ousted from Slytherin house and put into Hufflepuff for your betrayal." _

_He grimaced, "Nothing wrong with being in Hufflepuff, one of my aunties was in it and apparently you get free snacks because of how close it is to the kitchen." _

"_Hot take 1996. Hufflepuff house is actually Draco Malfoy's second choice of house." Snickered Hermione unforgivingly. _

_And to Hermione's utter delight she had the privilege of witnessing Draco Malfoy blush. _

"_Ah Draco, you are a huge bigot but you do make me laugh." she sighed_

"_Just recommend a book, Granger." He muttered looking away from her. _

"_You should read Shakespeare." She suggested. _

"_I'll read it if you check it out of the library for me." He countered. _

"_Awww you ashamed your widdle Slytherin fwiends will make fun of you!" she snickered, "Okay deal, I'll get the book for you if you promise to fully appreciate it." _

_Draco drew closer to her suddenly, "I'm sure I'll appreciate it just fine." He whispered into her ear before dropping an unexpected kiss on her mouth. _

"_See you later, Granger." He said casually, laughing at her stunned expression, "Don't forget the book for our next study session." And just like that he was gone. _

_Hermione laid a hand on her tingling mouth... what a bastard she thought, who kisses someone they hate like that. _

_But on her way back to her dorm she had a small smile on her face. _

_..._

Draco remembered that night all of a sudden, everything about it was amplified in his memory; her sweet laughter, his appalling lack of self-control, the scent of crisp-clean winter air swirling around them as she teased him. It was one of his favourite memories. He couldn't believe he had nearly forgotten.

He looked down at the blindfolded woman in his arms, his beasts impulse to take from her energy battling with his human desire to have her remember him as he was in her mind.

A little young, a little foolish, a little flawed but still human and not whatever abomination he had become now.

"I'm so sorry Granger." He whispered into her ear softly before pressing a finger against her temple, "_Obliviate_"

For now, his human half could deny the monster but he didn't know how long that would continue for. The Shroud was right, her magic was powerful and feeding from it would keep him going for longer but Draco couldn't bring himself to take her without her permission after reliving that precious memory.

They hadn't started off as lovers, they had started off as friends. She had introduced him to a whole other way of thinking, regardless of his complicated feelings for her now he had to respect what they had. Maybe if he took her now, she wouldn't remember it but his human half would and would forever regret it.

"Master Draco!"

Bollocks!

Ma'ati stormed into the room, huffing as if out of breath, "Betty told me you brought her here!"

She rushed towards the passed-out Hermione, checking her pulse to see if it was rushing. "You've injected her with the venom, haven't you?" she accused, "It was supposed to happen slowly, her body and mind aren't strong enough to comprehend the changes within you right now. You're much too powerful, they will manipulate you into thinking it's fine for you to be alone with her right now. It. Is. Not. Safe."

"I didn't take her essence, 'Ti." He muttered.

"Probably only because your human half intervened and your desire for it was reduced, you know you're putting her in danger. You have to wait. Hand her over, please."

Draco found his arms tightening around Hermione's light weight, "No..." he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "I'll carry her to her room."

"You shouldn't do that, you know you shouldn't." Ma'ati's amber eyes implored him to listen.

"I'll take her, she won't have any memory of what happened here today."

And the tall warrior woman watched as he strode out of the room, his gaze shamefully averted.

Everything was happening faster than anticipated.

* * *

Hermione woke after a deep, dreamless sleep. Something she didn't imagine she could have done in the circumstances and in her current position... in the dungeon of the castle.

Last night she had been exhausted and barely remembered getting to this room but in the pre-dawn light the dungeon room wasn't exactly what she had imagined it to be.

It was surprisingly well furnished, Hermione stood gingerly aware of an unsurprising yet highly annoying weakness in her limbs. And checked to make sure Teddy was beside her, like she had requested of Betty a tall crib was beside her own bed in which the small boy slept peacefully clutching a knitted blanket.

Who puts a fireplace in a dungeon, she wondered surveying her prison for the foreseeable future after examining her charge.

The room was large, a small four-poster bed was tucked into the back covered in what Hermione imagined to be the softest down, a bookshelf and a reading nook near the fireplace and even a fancy antique washstand with a ceramic pitcher and time stained mirror. As far as prisons went Hermione had certainly experienced worse.

The floor of the entire cell was covered in oriental rugs keeping her feet nice and warm. The motivation behind all of this was entirely unknown to her but she had decided that she was going to attempt to glean some information of her own.

This was the first time in a long time that she was close enough to find out to what had happened to the Order after the battle at Hogwarts and to find out if any of her friends were alive. She had to remain cautious and make sure Teddy was with her at all times.

Spotting a bell pull near the washing stand she hopped over, the stand held a toothbrush, some paste and even some face-washing cream... how suspicious she thought, it was entirely too well put together for just a prisoner and there seemed to be no one else in the dungeon.

A detail she imagined was strange since this house was inhabited by a Death Eater or multiple Death Eaters. Disregarding her doubts for the moment but tucking the information into the back of her mind, she washed her face, brushed her teeth and pulled the bell.

In a flash the house-elf from yesterday appeared, "Morning Missus!"

"Good morning, Betty." replied Hermione, "I was just wondering, what I'm supposed to do now?" Hermione knew despite how gilded her chamber appeared if she tried to run, she'd be hunted down like a rabid dog.

"Ah how about I bring some clothes for you and the wee one, then breakfast and after the young lady who guards the house will show you around."

"How generous." Murmured Hermione thoughtfully, "Yes that sounds like an excellent plan, I would very much enjoy seeing the castle."

"Excellent!" the elf clapped her hands happily and was gone in another flash.

This was the perfect opportunity, Hermione chewed her thumb nail carefully. She needed to know what this place looked like in daylight if she was to spot a single route of escape in case, she got bollocked by her decision to stay here.

Betty reappeared with a fresh pair of jeans, a peach t-shirt and some clean underwear for her and a fire truck onesie for little Teddy who she volunteered to dress.

Hermione pulled the clothes on absent-mindedly, enjoying the crisp feeling of clean clothes against freshly washed skin... this was an unforeseen advantage to her, she wondered if Ma'ati would show her the outside of the castle as well. Maybe that was pushing it but it was worth considering.

"Come, breakfast is in the kitchen." The elf handed the alert baby back to Hermione who tied him into her standard tight swath around her middle and took Betty's hand. Mindful of the apparitions effect on the child she held his head steady and in an instant, they were in the kitchens.

Daylight was much kinder to Stormhaven Castle, Hermione thought noticing that Ma'ati was sitting at the breakfast table as well.

"Good morning." muttered the tall woman, her gaze focused intently on the mug in her hand. Almost as if she was avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"Good morning." Hermione murmured pleasantly, "I believe you've offered to show me around the castle today."

"If that's what you want." she said, still avoiding looking directly at Hermione.

Deciding to ignore her unfriendly attitude Hermione seated herself at the opposite end of the table, smiling up at Betty who placed a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast in front of her.

"I'll watch the wee one for now." the elf offered, taking Teddy off Hermione.

"So, what do you plan to show me first?" she asked

"I thought we'd begin in the gardens once you and the child are done with your breakfast." Ma'ati downed her cup of coffee hastily and got up while quickly throwing out a "You can find me by the side door that you came in from yesterday. I have to go now."

"Betty." asked Hermione curiously, watching the other woman retreat hastily, "did I offend her in some way?"

The elf just clicked her tongue disapprovingly, "She's just a strange one, she is. You finish up your food now and head out."

Hermione quickly shovelled her breakfast into her mouth, took the child back from Betty thanked her and headed out of the side door.

Ma'ati was waiting for her by the entrance, "Come on. There's a great deal of land to cover."

She didn't even have to ask to see the outside she thought gleefully following the tall, unfriendly woman quickly.

The sun seemed to be out, which was a blessing since she didn't have a coat or a cloak. Stormhaven Castle was set in the Scottish Highlands, further up north than even Hogwarts and for the first time in a long time when Hermione stepped outside, she was overtaken by awe.

Set in a valley Stormhaven was surrounded by evergreen pines, the castle itself was dilapidated and the castle ground overrun but the setting was entirely enchanting. The gentle _whoosh-whoosh_ sound of pine trees blowing in wind comforted her and she could smell juniper and cedar in the air.

The castle grounds seemed to have an overrun greenhouse and even a lake surrounded by larch trees but the structure itself was hidden by some kind of magic, powerful magic; a rippling wall of clear smoke seemed to surround it. Every time the tree tops swayed the spell's effect would be broken and the glimmering screen could be seen. Hermione had never seen anything like it.

"It's breath-taking." Hermione murmured, reaching out as if the caress the view.

"Oi, 'Ti!" came a male voice from near the greenhouse suddenly.

Hermione's head lurched up in surprise and fear, another Death Eater?

"Master Theo..." groaned the tall woman, she sounded simultaneously amused and exasperated, "As you can see, I'm busy right now."

Theo Nott bound towards them, his floppy brown locks like an overgrown spaniel puppy's ears... totally out of control.

"Granger." he said enthusiastically, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"I'm sorry." Hermione replied blankly, "Who are you?"

Theo; thin and gangly bent his head, moving his floppy hair aside to introduce himself, "'Lo I'm Theodore Nott." Before giving her a bright smile.

Hermione was immediately struck by the chaotic puppy energy he gave off, "Slytherin?" she asked suspiciously.

"Not a Death Eater though." He replied.

"What else could you possibly be?"

"A scientist!"

"A what now?!"

"A scientist, I'm a scientist." He said happily, ignoring her stunned look, "I'm so glad to meet someone who had been in close proximity to muggles! Tell me, did you take science in school?"

Hermione turned to look at her guide unbelievingly, noting that Ma'ati was shaking her head while leaning her forehead against her palm.

"You'd best just answer him." the Orisha mumbled.

This imprisonment was simply getting stranger and stranger.

"Umm, no. The last time I had a science class was probably in primary school."

"I don't suppose you'll be any help then." He said turning away muttering to himself...

"Excuse me?"

"But you are intelligent or so I've heard anyway. I'll have to make a judgement about that myself. My standards are very high after all."

"Excuse me?!"

"Yes... yes you're excused, now tell me what do you know about biology?"

He simply continued talking thought Hermione in disbelief, he wasn't even listening to her. She took her time to look over him carefully, she had never seen such a messy adult before. All the clothing he wore was stained in large unfortunate patches, the bags under his blue eyes looked like they had their own luggage and he looked like he hadn't eaten a proper meal in weeks. Who was this man?

"Is he, you know...?" She whispered to Ma'ati using the universal gesture of having a screw loose.

"That would make his behaviour so much more palatable." she whispered back, "Unfortunately this is exactly how he is."

"Master Theo, what are you doing outside?" Ma'ati asked, exasperated.

"The lab was getting stuffy, I thought some fresh air would help me think." he said, rubbing his chin absentmindedly studying Hermione with unnerving intensity, "You should become my assistant while you're here!"

"Master Theo!" interjected Ma'ati, "Please go back to your lab and leave our guest alone."

"Aw 'Ti, she'd make a great assistant, hey Granger how are you at reading really bad notes?"

"Mr. Nott..." Hermione began thoroughly confused by his line of thinking, "I can't just..."

"Okay that's excellent I'll drop off my notes later on today in your room, you can come help after you've read them okay." He didn't even wait for her to reply before he was off, muttering to himself under his breath.

"What just happened..."

It would seem Hermione just got recruited... for what she wasn't entirely certain.

"Come, I'll show you the rest of the grounds. If I know that man and I do, the notes will be dumped on your bed by the end of the day and he'll hound you until you agree to do what he asks of you." Ma'ati's voice was so woeful Hermione couldn't help but let out a laugh... her first in many months.

"You sound like you've experienced this before."

"Who do you think he tried to make his assistant last time?" She replied with a wink.

Hermione let out a laugh before following her, if nothing else her life was about to get very interesting.

...

**A/N- Hello people of the internet! Wow y'all really enjoyed the last chapter huh! Thanks so much for the love and support!**

**Leave a review if you enjoyed the work xx **


	7. A Potion of Destruction

**VI **

**Knockturn Alley **

**Before the Dark Lord's victory, January 1995**

The mist around Knockturn Alley was always slightly putrid, despite the general shadowy quality that the Alley displayed at all hours of the day, it was particularly sinister during the early morning light.

Poor wizards who lost their last Knut playing cards were begging on the streets, drunks... stumbling over last night's trash, prostitutes finishing their nights business and heading home and most dangerous of all, mercenaries for hire at every corner... their sharp, beady eyes studying the passers-by with a calculating look in their eyes.

They all shared the same small stretch of road, wary eyes, hands clutching the precious few things they owned or were going to sell, close and of course their often-stolen wands held at the ready; in case someone was to attack them, or if they saw something worth stealing.

Knockturn Alley was in stark contrast to its mate across the wall, here there were no happy children holding their parents hands, begging for an ice-cream from Fortescue's or admiring the latest Firebolt at the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Just hags and elves pretending they weren't trying to lure some unsuspecting fool into giving up his riches.

Severus Snape fit right in, even the smell was familiar to him. After all Spinner's End hardly smelt like a garden of roses, his long black cloak was hooded, giving the distinct impression of a walking shroud moving on silent footsteps. The shop he was heading for was known well for its dark artefacts, in fact the Dark Lord himself had worked at Borgin and Burke's after finishing his schooling at Hogwarts.

A lifelong friendship had been forged; one based on the mutual desire for power and worship.

But today Severus was here to collect a very special delivery from Mr. Borgin, something that would help the Dark Lord's campaign in the most effective manner.

He took note of the merchandise displayed in Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary window. Certain potions ingredients disallowed due to either the rarity of their origins, the inhumane way they were extracted or their protection under wizarding law were available here.

The potion that Snape was attempting was unheard of before and certainly rather inhumane; he would require some rare ingredients for it but first Borgin's where a very special package awaited him.

He pushed open the door, the bell atop it echoing eerily. There appeared to nobody in the shop, but Snape was well aware of how they operated and simply waited for the owners to appear; studying the curios on display with a bored expression on his face.

Much like the rest of the alley this shop was dark too, it's air smelled like sulphur and limestone; two important ingredients in dark magic. Shelf upon shelf held cursed keys, hoodoo bags, shrunken skulls from cannibal tribes in the sub-Saharan desert and other items to bring misfortune and false luck. Severus studied a money's paw with a scowl of disgust, choosing... wisely not to touch it.

"Ahh, Snape." came the rusty voice of Mr. Borgin from the shadowy back area of the shop, "Come to pick up the Master's specially requested item, have you?"

He simply nodded shortly, walking up to the charred counter. Borgin was the bogeyman mother's used to scare their children; his stooped back and gnarled hands added to his rather ominous countenance along with his wildly frazzled white hair and yellow tobacco stained teeth. Yet the blue eyes under his bushy eyebrow's remained as sharp and as wicked as ever.

He pulled out a large chest; oak wood with gold filigree. One would never know from studying the exterior what it held inside, precious, exotic cargo that Severus planned to turn into a lethal weapon. Borgin ran his hand over the surface, mumbling in Latin. The runes that had kept the chest locked airtight began to loosen, the mechanisms groaning... as if alive.

"These..." pointed Borgin, "are the most precious, the core of magic from ten rare creatures."

The chest opened to reveal a box, equally divided into ten little pockets and each one holding a glass container.

"The heart of a Chimera." Borgin held up the first glass vessel inside which lay a large, bright red heart... still pumping.

"The Essence of the Lethifold, captured in the Bolivia." the dark cloud within the glass pulsed ominously as if just waiting to escape, "It took two months and five wizard's deaths to capture it, make sure you keep it surrounded by a Patronus before trying to steal its magic."

"The pelt of the Hidebehind." he continued, holding up the next vessel.

"What use is that?" snapped Severus, "It's just like a Demiguise pelt, won't do anything other than provide invisibility."

"Tut-tut-tut." Said Borgin, wagging a raggedy nailed finger right under Snape's nose, "The Hidebehind eats human, Severus. Their magical core is unstable, that's why it isn't used as an invisibility cloak and you only need a small bit of the pelt. But then again, you never were any good during care of magical creatures were you."

Snape just scowled, "Get on with it, old man. Time is precious and you're wasting mine."

Borgin simply gave Snape is signature smile... one that still caused a shiver to go down his back.

"The eggs and shavings of a Horned Serpent." The eggs were bright red and the shaved horn black like coal, "taken without permission, they produce unstable magic, perfect for your little potion."

"The tail of the Manticore." He continued showing Snape the bright red scorpion tail that could only have been obtained after the death of the highly dangerous beast.

"Ah one of my most precious ones." Borgin crooned softly, cradling the next little bottle like a child... his gaze adoring, "The blood of the Nandu. You must know Severus, I expended considerable resources in obtaining this."

"The Dark Lord repays his followers richly, Borgin. There is no requirement for you to worry."

The old man simply chuckled, his blue eyes dancing with the flame of madness. "Money isn't what I'm after, young man."

Severus made an impatient noise, tired of the old man's dramatics.

"The heartstrings of the Quintaped." Borgin said, showing him the seventh bottle, "All the way from the Isle of Drear."

"The gall bladder of a Mountain Troll." He said, holding up the eighth, "The eyes of the Wampus Cat and the bones of the Erkling."

Severus took mental inventory; with these ten cores, the Basilisk fang, the Werewolf's saliva and frozen Acromantula eggs, his task was half done.

He drew out a bag of galleons to pay Borgin who took them with a small satisfied smile.

"Remember to tell Riddle... he owes me a favour now." said the old man with a wink before leaving Severus to collect the precious chest and disappearing into the back.

...

**Stormhaven Castle **

**A week after Hermione Granger's capture **

Hermione stood in the greenhouse or as Ma'ati liked to call it the Herbal and took stock of all that was growing inside.

The last week had been strange to say the least, she had given in under intense pressure from Theo Nott to be his 'assistant' as he like to refer to her. It hadn't been painful pressure... just annoying, the man was relentless!

She hadn't thought he had been serious about actually making her do anything but last week after her and Teddy's first outing she had returned to her dungeon room to find a pile of papers dumped on her bed as he promised, when she had asked the house-elf if she knew what it was.

Betty simply sighed and replied, "Master Theo gets a bit enthusiastic and forgets that not everyone is as interested in his research as he is."

But she had decided to take him up on his request, after all it was probably the best way to gather information. Blaise had yet to return and 'Ti, as she preferred to be called, was taciturn bordering on mute and the house-elves, there were four as Hermione discovered, working in castle were bound to keep their master's secrecy by oath.

It was strange place... Hermione was given freedom in certain parts of the house during the day, totally unsupervised because as she later discovered 'Ti slept during the day but the magic around the house was unbelievably strong. There was no chance for her to escape.

She wasn't even able to get within five feet of the boarder wall, but the magic was also strange... dark and wild like it wasn't really human.

Her bedroom in dungeon was a luxurious prison cell and once the sun set the wards around it prevented her from leaving until daylight, the castle and it's surroundings also emptied of all living creatures during the night; no crickets chirped, there were no sounds of small, nocturnal animals hunting for food... just an eerie silence pregnant with oppressive fear.

Theo as she would later discover while highly intelligent and empathetic was at the end of the day a Slytherin and no amount of sly manoeuvring on Hermione's part would entice him to revel his secrets.

There were other strange things going on that Hermione couldn't quite put her finger on... currents of strange, powerful magic in the castle, the repeated mention of an unnamed Master, something she only caught when one of the elves would accidently slip up and 'Ti's nightly patrols. She also wasn't allowed at the back of the castle though she had tried to sneak back there and had been thrown back with a powerful wall of enchantment.

Another big question of hers was Theo's research; his work after she had organized it into piles by date was on a blood-sickness... or so he thought, going through the wizarding population. Besides the science and the processes of his research which were both highly detailed, the information in his research about the participants was vague. They were simply classified into three categories M, P and L and they all seemed to have this disorder.

Her paranoia often led her to feel like she was being watched.

Luckily today she was doing one of her favourite tasks; tending to the herbal and collecting plants for Theo's research. It allowed her time to ponder her various questions and also often spend time with Teddy, which she wasn't doing today unfortunately but mostly got to do in the greenhouse. It was a little green escape from reality.

The greenhouse was thick with untended plants, Theo who grew them was simply too impatient to tend to them all by himself and one of the tasks he had assigned her besides inscribing his notes into legible, readable research theory was collecting whatever he needed from the magical garden that day.

The greenhouse was split into a few different sections; the front part contained the common magical plants that they had studied in Herbology; dittany, angelica root, mandrake, calendula, moly, wolfsbane etc...

The back end held rare plants, ones that she had learned Theo's father had brought back from his travels, rare orchids, comfrey, mugwort and pipeweed. They needed special care to keep alive in the cold Scottish climate. And finally, in the very end, in a cool, shaded corner were the poisonous plants; belladonna, hemlock, castor and snakeroot. That was the only area of the greenhouse Theo tended himself and had a barrier she couldn't breach, around.

As if they were scared, she'd poison them... she thought with amusement, not dismissing the idea completely.

It had been a shock to her to discover he had a green thumb and how little she actually knew about Herbology. Of-course she had read One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, but Theo grew and crossbred so many varieties of magical plants for his research it was fairly mind-boggling.

She put her sheers down and wiped the sweat from her brow, the greenhouse was magicked to stay the temperature of a tropical rainforest and she was sweating in her jeans and thick jumper. She had more work, Theo had requested she bring some herbs with her to his laboratory in the North Tower.

She picked up her basket and headed to the door, from the outside like everything else on the grounds of the castle, the greenhouse looked delipidated, but the inside didn't reflect that reality it was just another little thing that bothered her, like this castle hid something.

Stormhaven was much smaller than Hogwarts, it had only taken her three days to figure out how to get around the castle. The East Wing was forbidden to her, guarded with the same inhuman magic she had experienced around the parameter of the house and the around the rear end of the castle.

She entered through the same door as the first day she had arrived and took the old servants stairs up to the North Tower.

Theo's laboratory encompassed the entire tower room and as she was making her way in, she could already hear his muttering, something she had had to get used to. He swore, laughed and berated himself... holding entire conversations with himself while she sat in the same room looking at him like he was a bona-fide lunatic, which she wasn't yet convinced he wasn't.

He didn't even look up from what he was doing as she walked in, muttering to himself as he worked furiously on something, his floppy brown hair falling over his eyes.

She sighed, he was intelligent... a genius if 'Ti was to be believed but the more practical aspects of his personality were sorely lacking... if the elves didn't bring him food, he didn't eat, she had caught him using a _Scourgify_ more than once on his clothing and two days ago she had forcibly washed his hair when he had protested that he had been too busy to do it for the last week and a half.

...

"_That is disgusting Theo!" Hermione screamed, "Ugh... please just go shower. If you want me share your workspace, I can't live with you looking so messy." _

"_Busy." He mumbled, blatantly ignoring her. _

"_How did your parents allow you to grow up like this?" she lamented, tugging on one skinny arm to push him towards the small bathroom on his floor. _

"_Huh, what'd do you mean, the elves just washed me when I was asleep." He said, turning to her and looking at her as if SHE was crazy for demanding he shower. _

_No, Hermione thought to herself... just breathe, don't yell at him... remember you need him to be your friend, she took a deep breath as if to ground herself before turning to him with a stern glare. _

"_Theodore Nott, you will shower immediately, the house-elves aren't supposed to help bathe a grown man." _

"_You can't make me." _

"_On that, sir... you are sorely mistaken." _

...

She shuddered at that memory before pushing it aside. There was a fresh batch of notes on his desk, which he allowed her to use to work. He scribbled ideas and complicated equations onto anything he found and then just dumped them on the desk for her to write into the large leather-bound book containing all his research on the blood-sickness.

"Master Theo?" the house-elf Benny poked his head into the room, "There's an owl with a package waiting for you downstairs."

Theo lifted his head from whatever he was doing and nodded to Benny, "I'll be right down. Ah Granger... when did you get here?"

Hermione sniffed, piqued that he hadn't even bothered to notice her arrival and seated herself at his desk primly, "You know if you bothered to pay attention to anything, you'd have noticed I arrived five minutes ago."

She should have been more fearful about talking to him this way but in the past week she had discovered that nothing offended Theo, he had little patience's and even fewer social skills so he didn't care what one said to him and added to that he was like an uncoordinated puppy... hardly dangerous, except to himself.

She had watched him stumble over his own feet, trip over something invisible and burn his hand because he wasn't paying attention to his cigarette going out; all within the hour. He was hardly a threat to her.

Once he was gone, she began to organise his notes, wishing she had more clarity about what she was working on but was soon deeply focused on her task.

Hermione's annoying leg swinging habit from school was back in full force and it wasn't long before she banged it against the side of the desk. She bent to massage the bruise and spotted something unusual at the side of the desk.

A notch, barely visible and tiny. A secret compartment? She ran her hand over the wood, feeling to see if it was protected by magic and strangely enough, it wasn't.

She pushed her nail under it and pulled open a small drawer, hidden on the inside of the desk and all it contained was a ledger, much like the one she was working on now.

Was Theo conducting other research? She hadn't noticed in his notes, clearly this was a secret.

She looked at the door carefully, keep one ear open before flipping the diary open.

**Data provided by subject shows that the potency of the potion was not exaggerated, found trace materials of many magical beasts within the first few days of taking his blood sample. His human body is finding it hard to contain the potency of so much raw magical power.**

**I fear he will not survive the weeks end.**

That's all she could read.

Startled but thankful that Theo's large feet made enough sound to wake an army of the dead and she was warned of his presence quickly. She hastily slipped the dairy into the waistband of her jeans... deciding that anything hidden like this was worth risking a read off.

After all it wasn't like they were telling her the whole truth.

...

**Glossary **

**Wampus Cat (XXXXX)**\- Somewhat resembling the mundane mountain lion or cougar in size and appearance, the Wampus Cat is native to the Appalachian Mountains. It can walk on its hind legs, outrun arrows, and its yellow eyes are reputed to have the power of both hypnosis and Legilimency. The Wampus cat is fast, strong, and almost impossible to kill.

The Cherokee have most extensively studied the Wampus Cat, with whom they share their native region, and only they have ever succeeded in procuring Wampus Cat hair for use as a wand core.

**Mountain Troll(XXXX)-** They are the largest breed, weighing over a tonne, and the most vicious kind of their species. They are often bald beasts with thick, dark grey skin. They sometimes use Graphorns as mounts, which results in them being scared due to Graphorns heavily disliking such travel.

**Erkling (XXXX)-** Their high pitch cackles were particularly entrancing to children, and they used this to lure them away from their guardians to eat them. These creatures also enjoyed shooting darts at unsuspecting victims. Originating from the Black Forest in Germany, the difference between this creature and many others was that they can speak Human-language.

Strict control by the German Ministry of Magic, beginning in the centuries preceding 1991, had greatly reduced the number of Erkling attacks.

**Quintaped (XXXXX)-** The Quintaped, also known as the Hairy MacBoon, was a dangerous magical beast with five legs, each ending in a clubfoot, and was covered with thick, red-brown hair.

**Hidebehind (XXXX)-** The Hidebehind is a nocturnal, forest-dwelling spectre-like beast that preys on humanoid creatures. It can shift its shape, allowing it to hide behind almost any object. This hybrid is an accidentally created species. Although it has the power of Invisibility, those who have seen it describe it as tall with silver-hair, akin to a skinny bear. It can also contort itself to lurk behind any object.

Its prey of choice is humans, which Magizoologists speculate is the result of the cruelty shown by Phineas Fletcher to the creatures in his power. Only a witch or wizard would be likely to survive an attack by these creatures.

**The Horned Snake (XXXXX)-** The Horned Serpent was a magical snake found in several regions of the world, but was most common in North America.

Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry founder Isolt Sayre befriended one of these serpents and named one of the four school houses after it.

**Chimera (XXXXX)-** The Chimaera was a vicious, bloodthirsty beast with a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail.

**Manticore (XXXXX)-** A Manticore had a the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion that will kill anyone instantly. A Manticore's skin repelled all known charms, so it was extremely difficult to subdue a Manticore with magic. It was known to be capable of human speech and was considered a sentient beast. The Manticore sang softly as it ate its prey.

**Basilisk (XXXXX)-** The Basilisk is a giant serpent, also known as the King of Serpents. It is a magical beast that is bred by Dark Wizards. Herpo the Foul was the first to breed a Basilisk; he accomplished this by hatching a chicken egg beneath a toad which resulted in the creature known as a Basilisk. Basilisk breeding was banned in Medieval times. The practise can be hidden when the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures comes to check by simply removing the egg from the toad.

Looking a Basilisk directly in the eye will immediately kill the victim, but indirect look will merely render them Petrified. It is also the mortal enemy of spiders, who can intuitively sense them and flee whenever they do.

**Acromantula (XXXXX)-** An Acromantula was a giant magical species of spider, native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia, particularly Borneo where it inhabited dense jungles. Acromantulas were believed to be a wizard-bred species, designed to guard dwellings or treasure hoards, and were first created before the Ban on Experimental Breeding in 1965. These giant spiders with a taste for human flesh were first spotted in 1794.

(From Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them)

**A/N- Full Dramione next chapter, leave a review if you enjoyed the story. I might be increasing the chapters, this story seems to have gotten much larger in plot than I ever intended it to lol. **


	8. Hopeless Causes

**VII**

**Stormhaven Castle, Present Day **

**Midnight, (May 1999) **

Hermione thanked Betty, reassuring her that she didn't need anything else and bid her goodnight. As soon as the house-elf had apparated out Hermione rushed to the chest at the end of her bed, she had barely manged to hide the ledger she had nicked from Theo's lab in time. Betty had come to fetch her for lunch enquiring after her health.

She had told Theo her stomach hurt terribly before excusing herself from his lab and profusely rejecting any well-meaning requests of his to mix her up a 'brew' as he called it. Something about the unholy light in his eyes when he used those words to describe a drink... just didn't sit right with her. Like he was dying to experiment with a potion, except instead of a guinea-pig he now had her... a captive human subject.

She wondered if they had brought her here to be his test subject, maybe he was developing bioweapons for the Dark Army she thought to herself with a chuckle...not even realizing she wasn't far off.

She unwrapped the ledger she had tied in Teddy's swaddling cloth, thankful that the child had a full belly all the time these days and went to sleep almost immediately. Hermione wasn't ever awake this late these days, she found the eerie silence and the lack of any evidence of life around the castle to be scary, it was terrifying for her to remain awake with just her thoughts.

Now the question was bed or fireplace, if she tried to read it near the fireplace where there was sufficient light, she risked someone coming to check on her and discovering she had stolen it, obviously it was something important. Nobody bothered to hide irrelevant research.

But if she read on the bed, she would have to try to get some more light since there were no extra candles in her room and the wall sconces only threw so much light.

She could attempt a wandless _Lumos_ , she had had some success with wandless magic in her last few years in Hogwarts but hadn't attempted it while on the run for fear of getting caught but she had already been caught, so really was there any harm in trying to see if it was possible for her to use her magic.

She quickly slipped into her plain flannel nightgown and padded to her bed, her heart was thumping with dread and a little bit of fear. She had to put this ledger back as soon as she could, tonight might be the only night she got to read it properly.

She slid into her bed and pulled the covers up over her head, quickly peeking at Teddy before focusing on the little leather-bound book in her hands.

It had been so long since she had done magic, so she had to really concentrate, _"Lumos." _she whispered, sighing when it didn't work, "_Lumos." _she tried again, focusing on creating a small ball of light in her hand and a little spark flickered and slowly grew stronger, she experienced a moment of triumph before flipping the ledger open.

* * *

**4****th**** July 1998**

**This is my first entry into this journal, perhaps four days after I was contacted by B. When he had written to me, I hadn't believed what he was saying was possible. I normally don't conducted research like this, but I have a feeling studying what is happening right now in Stormhaven castle is perhaps even more defining than my work on isolating biological compounds that create the magical gene in humans, that is why this journal will remain part diary and part research journal. I also find it hard to remain unbiased because I know the victim of this horrible...? (possibly) occurrence. While it is fascinating to be able to study this as a singularly unique and spectacular phenomenon of both biology and magic, I find my usual scientific detachment isn't that well-tuned. I fear D has suffered greatly and even as his body continues to fight now, the question of his survival is shrouded in mist. Even I, with my normally well calibrated ability to be able to measure probability find myself find myself fearful of giving a response that may be perceived with the lightest bit of hope. **

**T**

* * *

**5****th**** July 1998**

**I was told they tortured him for a week, the potion that now ravages his mind and body was stuck into him with the hope that it would transform his body and mind into being more pliable but dark magic made him unstable. B only managed to rescue him last week, apparently how he did it was by striking a deal. I have asked him what potion it was, he only shook his head. That, he didn't know. Or that he couldn't tell me? After all it wasn't like he could escape scrutiny if he was suspected of more compassion than just comradery for a fellow batch mate. D fought me while I attempted to take his blood-sample, the one I took yesterday, the very first one was mind boggling. **

**It's like his blood no longer resembles a human's or even a mammals blood. Most mammals including humans don't have nuclei in their red blood cells, but his red-blood cells seem to be mutating before my eyes. I have studied werewolf blood before, it is similar phenomenon, but the structure of his blood is something I have never seen before.**

**T**

* * *

**6****th**** July 1998 **

**A breakthrough? Potentially... B overheard that D wasn't the only person they had tested the potion on. Most people they had injected it into had lost their minds and their bodies hadn't been able to handle the raw power... whatever it was, within the potion and had died after a few torturous days or in some cases hours. They have been experimenting with unstable dark magic with the cores of magical beasts rated XXXX or higher by the MOM, an army of magical beasts within human bodies it seems, no one knows where they have received this material from, I fear we don't have enough research to know what cores they have used. TDL has begun to consolidate his territory, after that night at Hogwarts and Potter's disappearance he has been restructuring our world as we know it into something I have never seen before. The weaponizing of dark magic makes me fearful for his plans... I hear rumours of him testing other potions, dangerous ones.**

**I now understand why D's blood is the way it is, it is not human... it is a strange mix of beast and human. From B's understanding they have used several combinations of magical core from rare and dangerous magical beasts. The chances of D's survival look bleaker by the day. **

**T**

* * *

**10****th**** July 1998 **

**I have managed to isolate what is keeping D alive, but it is only a theory. In theory if they are intelligent beasts his consciousness can communicate with theirs. The venom from his spit is rare, it's poison. If I could only isolate what kind it would help narrow down what is within him, his body is changing it is like the magical core of the beasts are beginning to meld with his muscle tissue, his blood-cells and even his nerves. Maybe as he continues to change, we can determine the 'sire' so to speak from his physical features. B told me he continues to mention the name of the witch who fought alongside Potter. It is unfortunate she is missing, I'd imagine in a fight for the control of your soul you'd need someone you love at your side. I think he doesn't have many people who love him. **

**T**

* * *

Hermione bit her lip to stop herself from screaming, he was talking about Draco! Draco wasn't dead and he hadn't abandoned her like she believed for so long... but what had happened to him? Tortured? She put her hand on her mouth to muffle her soft moan.

So, he must have tried to come to the safehouse to meet her, as they had planned. She had finally convinced him at the end of 6th year after asking him to abandon the Invisible Cabinet idea he had come up with, after his parents had forced him to join the Death Eaters. He had kept pushing her away, scared that they would find out and kill her, but she had finally cornered him in the Room of Requirement and forced him to tell the truth.

...

"_Nothing Draco! Nothing. Not a letter, not a hi or a hello when we came back to school. How could you make me believe you and I were something special?" she had yelled, finally sneaking into the ROR after following him one night, "I was falling in love with you, you stupid arsehole!" _

_There were tears streaming down her face, they had been seeing each other since Christmas last year but after promising to write to her and come visit her since they could just be a normal couple during the summer break and not hide and hold hands or kiss, he had ignored all her letters and seemed to be ignoring her even now in school._

"_I don't know what you want from me, Granger?" he said, looking away. _

"_An explanation? The truth? Anything Draco anything?!" _

"_It's not my choice okay!" he exploded, "You think I want to stay away from you? Do you think I like watching your smile fade every time I walk past you these days? But I was born in a fucked-up family Hermione and He's holding my parents hostage and He's holding me hostage, you could die if we kept seeing each other. You know He's been getting more and more powerful every day, I see you and Potter having your little discussions. Potter thinks I'm a Death Eater, he isn't far off." _

"_Don't tell me...?" she said, stricken._

_He just rolled his sleeve up, showing her the mark she dreaded. _

"_How could you, Draco?" she said, her voice pained. _

"_You think I had a choice." He laughed bitterly, "He'll kill my parents if I don't and they probably wouldn't even care, they're so caught up in his shit." _

"_Don't what? Has he given you a task?" _

"_I'm supposed to fix that cabinet, more instructions to follow after." He replied tonelessly, hanging his head in defeat. "You need to leave Granger, get out of Hogwarts, I was mustering the courage to write you a letter, telling you that you need to get the fuck out of here and take Potter with you, if there is any hope left for us." _

"_No." she said fiercely, "No, do you think I'm going to let this happen to you?!"_

"_What am I supposed to do?" _

"_Fuck your parents Draco, I'm sorry but they chose this path. They don't have the right to expect you do to."_

"_I'm a Malfoy, Granger... of-course they expect it." _

"_Not your fault you were born in a terribly family. No. We have to leave here go to the Order."_

"_They'll Avada me on sight Granger, don't be daft." _

"_No, no I'll protect you. Just promise me, promise me you'll at least think about it." _

_He sighed bending his head to kiss her, "I'll think about it." _

_Hermione swallowed reluctantly wanting to say more, but he looked so tired... so haggard that she couldn't bring herself to do more than hug him tight against her trembling body, sending up a silent prayer for their future._

_..._

Oh, sweet Merlin, they must have found out that he planned to defect. She wanted to scream and rail against an invisible god. Why? Why had this happened? He didn't deserve what they had done to him... she wanted to throw up, her throat was tight with tears and her body trembling with the sweet memories of all those months they had spent together... all gone.

She owed it to Draco and their love to find out what had happened to him, so she continue to read.

* * *

**13****th**** July 1998 **

**I have isolated the poison, I'm afraid it brings me only more hopelessness. The poison is the Nandu's, a rare African beast. Arguably one of the most dangerous magical beasts to ever live. The only account I have of anyone being able to control it come from the Yoruba people. We would need an Orisha, a shaman from East Africa. B tells me he can get us a potkey but the Orisha haven't been seen in a long time. They are, after all, almost like demi-gods. As folk magic has diminished in Africa so has their influence, to be able to find one would be a stroke of luck so rare, it would be almost impossible if probability is to be trusted. **

**I often find myself wondering why B is helping D, his almost relentless pursuit of a cure is strange, considering it would just have been easier for him to let D die...**

...

A sound startled Hermione out of her intense concentration on the diary, she quickly closed her palm to extinguish the light.

Slow prowling footsteps came closer and closer to her cell door... nothing else moved.

"Hello kitten..." came a voice, both familiar and not from her cell door.

Hermione looked up from under her cover to see the very man she had been reading about.

"Draco...?" she asked haltingly, unable to believe he was before her eyes.

Yet when he turned to look at her, she caught her breath... this wasn't Draco, or fully Draco.

"You asked me that before as well you know." he said conversationally... his voice a gruttal growl, as he tested the bars of her cell casually.

"Who are you? Inside Draco?" she asked boldly, stepping out of her bed and standing in front of the crib.

"Ah..." the creature laughed, "So you have caught on, have you?"

"I... I read that Theo and Blaise were trying to get rid of you from Draco's body."

"Fools." It scoffed, "Like they're fools for thinking these wards can keep us out, yes Leopard?" it laughed to itself softly, "the leopard agrees, the humans are indeed fools."

"The Leopard?" she said, feeling her heart thump painfully as eyes as black as tar studied her from Draco's beloved face.

"The other creature within your lovers body that helped him survive that weak snake's torture." It replied.

"So where is Draco then and who are you?" she said, hypnotised.

"I am nothing little witch." It replied with a wicked smile. "We are the same, little witch. But some nights I become stronger and demand that we feed and some nights the leopard becomes stronger and demands we hunt and some nights the human is strong, fighting to try and stay human but we are the same. Now more than ever."

"So why am I speaking to you?" she whispered.

"Because tonight I will not be denied..."

"Denied what?"

Hermione never got her answer, the creature within Draco's body easily wrenched off the lock on the door of her cell like it was a child's toy and crossed the threshold like the wards didn't even exist.

"D...don't come any closer." she whispered, feeling the temperature in the room drop.

Gone was the handsome yet willowy Seekers body, Hermione now understood what Theo meant about being able to identify the sire of Draco's mutation. Draco's tall form was much muscular now; thick muscles bunched under sleek skin...undeniably strong, his silvery hair gone and, in its place, a deep golden blond mane, almost like the colour of a jaguar. His brawny arms were covered in runes and his eyes... the fathomless black of a creature so intelligent and powerful that she could feel Its magic rolling from Draco's body in waves.

"It's still me, Hermione." he almost sounded pleading. Before letting out in inhuman laugh.

Hermione's heart was breaking into pieces, here was her lover, her love... someone she had shared the deepest secrets of her heart with, but she couldn't trust her eyes. It looked like Draco... sounded like him too but yet it wasn't.

"I don't know..." she whispered to herself, scared, "You're not just Draco anymore. You aren't."

The creature kept its coal eyes on her, "Would it placate you witch for me to let you believe your lover is with you however you should be warned..." it snarled, "I will take what I came here for."

Before she could reply It was beside her bed, It's speed electric despite Draco's large body. He had moved with the silent grace of a lethal leopard, on quite steps. The magical energy around him thrummed with dark magic and power.

Hermione's mouth opened in a silent scream and before she could do anything It had It's hand around her neck, slamming her into the stone wall near Teddy's crib.

The sound startled the little boy awake... Teddy let out a loud wail as Hermione struggled... her weak body held up by Draco's brawny arm alone.

"Yes." It hissed in her ear, skimming Draco's lips... warm and familiar down her neck, "We have waited for this since we felt your magical essence, such a strong... floral...sweet essence, it makes us want to consume you again and again, little witch. We understand why the boy is so obsessed with you, but you have no hold over us."

"Please... please." She whispered fearfully, "please let go. Don't hurt the child."

"Your fear makes your blood even sweeter, little witch. You mustn't excite us so." It continued, rubbing one large hand up her leg, "We promise we'll only steal a little... after all we haven't had a meal in days. And we have no quarrel with the wolfling, but it will not stop us from obtaining what we came for."

Hermione screamed as Draco sunk his teeth into her neck, pushing the venom that made her body soft and plaint into her blood.

As her body began to sag and her mind grew hazy as she felt his hands on her thighs.

Draco licked the two little puncture wounds and the Shroud started to feed on her... much like a Dementor except it was feeding on her magical essence, the source of her power.

To prevent It from killing her, the human half of Draco pulled her body closer. As if he could shield her from himself, It enjoyed her power but he knew It wouldn't kill her. It was torture for Draco, the insatiable need to feed, his lack of control on the beasts and his inability to keep away from her.

"I'm sorry." His human half whispered, "Forgive me my love... forgive me."

The little baby continued to scream as Hermione collapsed on the floor, the creature inside Draco finally satisfied with its feeding.

"Please..." she whispered raising one weak hand towards him... but his eyes remained the tar black of the Shroud, "Will you ever let him go?"

Her last memory before falling completely was those same midnight eyes boring into her own and the creatures rough voice proclaiming without a doubt, "Never."

...

Hermione woke up suddenly, the sunshine was streaming through her window... and the memories from last night come rushing back to her.

The ledger... the discovery that Draco was still alive... the horror of the creature in her room, invading her magic... stealing from her.

"Awake, are we?" came a dry voice from the foot of her bed, "I thought I'd have to bring out a foghorn to wake you up."

"Zabini?" she asked, her voice scratchy and her head pounding.

"So, it finally happened huh?"

"What happened?"

"You met Draco and his beasts."

"Is this some sick joke Zabini, what happened last night, who is that, was that actually Draco?" she asked, throwing questions at him rapidly when all she wanted to do was go searching for Draco.

"What you met last night was a version of Draco, the one that goes hunting humans... the one that's taking over his soul. It was attracted by your magic, I had managed to keep you hidden with my wards, but it senses even the littlest bit of magic and last night It struck gold. It had found the woman It had been hunting for all this time."

"Is this why you brought me here? To be his prey? No wonder it's so silent around the castle at night, everything is cowering in fear."

Zabini shook his head solemnly, "I couldn't tell you what he had become, at least not immediately. I wanted you to get used to the castle first, get better... healthier, but my magic wasn't strong enough to protect you from him. Had I been here I would have protected you better."

"Why did you bring me here?" she screamed, "Why? I loved him and they made him into a monster. You made him into a monster." she accused, tears nearly blinding her, "how could you, he was your friend."

"That's why I found, you daft woman, I didn't know he was planning to defect. I would have gone with him had I known. You're here because you're my last hope of ever seeing Draco human again. I never wanted to be a Death Eater. Never. But what was I supposed to, my best friend was dragged back for defecting, Potter was gone. There was no one. I had to save him. I did what I had to."

"Last hope?" she laughed hysterically, "His beasts hate me Zabini, the malevolence and the violence I felt when It stole from me were violating."

"I think there is a way in which you can bring him back." He said quietly. "But it won't be easy and it's not something I can ask of you lightly, you'll have to agree to it yourself, but it may be the only way to save his humanity."

"What is it?" she asked, wary and fearful... her body still felt violated after the assault last night. She hugged herself, feeling a chill sweep through her at Zabini's look of deep anguish. Her heart thumped painfully in her ribcage... would the horror never end.

"You have to agree to be the beasts slave."

...

**A/N- Quarantine day 5 and the only thing keeping me sane is writing this fanfiction lol. Leave a review if you're enjoying the story, I love reading them xx**

**P.S- Also there's a poll on my profile about this story's name, if y'all could spare a few mins just give it a vote xx**


	9. A Test of Loyalty

**VIII**

**Stormhaven Castle, Present Day **

**Midnight, (May 1999) **

Hermione studied the handsome Italian wizard, looking to see if he had been joking, "The beasts slave..." she said slowly.

"It's not an easy task, it means you have to agree to a blood oath. To bind yourself to Draco, your powerful magic and your past with Draco already make you attractive to It but giving it what It craves will not be easy. It desires the strength your magic gives It, even if the effects last a short time. Since the Dark Magic and necromancy that Draco has to perform for the Dark Lord as the tithe for his freedom and isolation take a great deal of the Shroud's magical strength, leaving it weak... unable to control the share of Draco's soul that It considers Its own."

"Why won't it be easy?" she whispered, drawing the comforter up to her chin as if to ward off a chill.

"You have to understand..." Blaise sighed, "When I managed to get Draco out of the dungeon at Hogwarts, he was barely alive and barely human, the only reason he survived was sheer tenacity and Theo's expectational genius. Those runes you saw yesterday on his body keep the other beast in check, but the Shroud is both powerful and intelligent, to think Snape managed to steal Its magical essence and weaponize it makes It even angrier, It will do anything It can to gain control of a living host. That isn't a condemnation... it is simply the nature of the beast."

"The Shroud." She frowned, "Refresh my memory, I was always terrible at care of magical creatures."

"The Lethifold." He rattled off as if he had learned everything, he could have about it, "is a creature found in tropical climes, closely related to the Dementors they are classified as magical beasts despite their human like intelligence. They are dark creatures by nature and have exceptional control over all elements of dark magic... necromancy, demonology even animism." He gave her a little grin as if embarrassed by how much he knew.

Hermione's head was spinning wildly, be his slave? Have that thing feed on her magic? Again, and again?

"So, you've brought me here to be a human sacrifice." She said bitterly, "To become the scapegoat of these _things _... that are now indelibly bound to him."

"You won't die." He said firmly, his dark eyes blazing with conviction, "I wouldn't let you and nor would Draco, despite what you think he's still in there. A bit broken and disillusioned but there, nonetheless. Besides, other than you and me he has no one. His parents agreed to this, you understand. They were so disgusted that their son... their only son would defy them for you that they allowed this to happen to him."

Hermione closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, her brain still trying to process what Blaise was telling her.

"You owe it to him." said Blaise, quietly. firmly. "You owe him the same loyalty he showed you when you asked him to take a chance on you and he agreed. He could've lied to you Granger, he could have led you along... gone back to the Dark Lord's side. It would have been easy for him, he wouldn't be in this state, but his conviction carried him through it and now it's trying to survive. You owe it to him to try... even if you fail... to try and get his humanity back. He is changing and every day the creatures within him quail and scream for freedom and everyday his human half fights them back but the human is getting tired and he's losing hope and once that happens it's only a matter of time before he becomes exactly what they wanted him to when they gave him this potion... a mindless beast in a human body."

Hermione jumped out of the bed and began pacing, "And what happens if I say no? What if you're asking too much, it's not like I'm alone in this, Zabini. You forget I made another promise." She walked over to Teddy's crib where the child was awake, studying the mobile above his head. His plump arms waving their soft baby fists trying to catch the moving toy, she ran a gentle hand over his downy brown hair.

"The child won't be harmed, no matter what you think of us we only beat our children on Sunday's." he said with a grin, letting her know he was joking.

Hermione was so weary, "It's been so long." She whispered, "I've only thought about him to curse him in my mind for the past two years Zabini... what, what if I don't love him anymore? What if the sacrifice you're asking me to make is too big? The price too high? The cost too devasting to me? I have given everything. Everything. To the cause. I would have died to make sure Voldemort never won but we failed, I've lived in fear and pain since then and now you're asking me to do it again except this time we don't even know if my pain if worth anything? Can do anything."

"If there's anyone who can help him overcome this, its you. You're scared and rightly so... it's a battle for Draco's soul. If you think his soul isn't worth saving, I'll leave you alone, I won't bother you again and you can remain in Stormhaven castle for as long as you'd like. Under my protection."

"Why would you offer me that?" she whispered, looking away as if ashamed at her cowardice.

"Granger." He replied with a gentle smile, "You changed Draco and that will forever be something he is thankful for, it is my duty as his sworn brother to protect and respect your wishes above all else. He will always love you, even though these creatures inside him would have you believe otherwise."

"Why do you care Zabini, would've been easier to let him die." She said, her voice quavering on the last word.

"Unbreakable vow." He said with a casual shrug, "And a personal promise _dorsum vestrum semper habetis." _

"Always have your back." She translated quietly, studying the enigmatic man before her... realizing that she really didn't know any of the depths that made up Blaise Zabini.

His friendship with Draco was the purest form of brotherhood she had ever seen, an unalienable bond built on, she imagined mutual respect and love. Her throat was suddenly scratchy and her eyes misty as she remembered Harry and Ron and for a second Zabini blurred in front of her eyes and it was Harry.

"_We stick to our convictions because they're right and just, not just when we get rewarded for them otherwise what's the difference between us and Him." _

"I'll do it Zabini, for the sake of his soul. For the sake of our future."

But in her heart a bud of fear was taking root, whispering into her ear how it could all go very wrong.

...

**A/N- Apologies for the short chapter its more of a filler anyway, but I felt like these two needed to have a moment. The reason I wrote this so short and uploaded it is because I wanted to start the next chapter with a Voldemort scence and it just didn't feel right to leave the last chapter on that note. **

**I love all the reviews, if you have a minute let me know what you think xx **


	10. A Father's Love

**IX**

**The Riddle House, January 1998 **

**Before the Battle of Hogwarts, Little Hangleton **

Severus studied the manor critically from his vantage point within the azalea bushes that surrounded the entire property. It was an old Georgian manor, the kind village gentry often had. Village gentry like the Dark Lord's muggle father. Now that the family was dead the house had fallen into a state of disrepair, something that didn't particularly bother its new resident. They were there for a whole other, far more insidious purpose.

He wondered how the Dark Lord felt returning to this house that represented all that he hated of his muggle heritage. After all, it was at sixteen that a young Tom Marvolo Riddle had murdered his own father and his paternal grandparents. A story that the Dark Lord took great relish in retelling. Even the gardens was overgrown from when the old muggle caretaker of the house had been killed by the Dark Lord before the Triwizard Tournament and so now the manor looked completely abandoned.

The Dark Lord often reminisced about that night he had made his way to 'the house on the hill' as the locals called it and spoken to his father. A puny, weak man... vain and obsessed with his looks and with little substance and character. The muggle had dared look down up on the Dark Lord, as if HE, the weak muggle held all the power in their interaction. He had taken great satisfaction in killing his arrogant relatives.

The Dark Lord would recount almost fondly later on, that his father had been weak and pitiful and that he had done him a favour by ending his miserable life. The Dark Lord was not of boastful nature but he took great pride in his first kill, Riddle had always felt like he had found his true calling only after getting rid of the muggle baggage that tied him down.

He had avenged his mother who had been abandoned and left for dead in London by his father and he had restored honour to his old family name. The Dark Lord's obsession with the purity of his maternal family's bloodline would result in a decades long pursuit of ensuring magical blood and tradition remained within 'pureblood' families. Of-course the Gaunt name had died out when Morfin had died in Azkaban without having any children, but the Dark Lord showed a decided preference towards the Gaunt legacy. Pockmarked with madness and poverty as it was.

His disgust for the non- magical and the muggleborn wasn't just an obsession, it was a religion.

His alter of choice... purity of blood.

He wasn't successful however, because muggleborns continued to be welcomed into their schools, communities and homes but Severus thought with no small measure of arrogance, the Dark Lord was closer than ever to achieving his dream with Severus's help.

Severus thought about Lily Potter, the beautiful red-headed muggleborn he had been in love with. Except the mud-blood bitch had gone and chosen _him _... James Potter; arrogant, conceited and a bully. _The deceitful bitch _he thought, his face morphing into an ugly scowl, he had never forgiven her. He'd make sure that son of hers never fulfilled the prophecy.

It was Severus who had deserved to be Head-Boy, he who deserved to win the love of Lily Potter and he who had the spells, the potions, the ideas that could change the wizarding world but no one other than the Dark Lord had seen his potential and nurtured it. Even after begging for their protection eighteen years ago they had been killed and then forever immortalised and once again he was relegated to the shadows. Their son taking James's place as the 'saviour'. How Severus hated them.

Snape had existed in the shadows all his life, treated with fear and caution in the Order and wary distrust among the Death Eaters. Why he had held the vain hope that the Order, the same people who had bullied him in school were the people who would accept him, he would never know.

The only one who understood him was the Dark Lord, the only one perhaps, who knew what it was like to be a mongrel; looked down upon by the Purebloods, the very group he wished for acceptance into, the only who understood was the Dark Lord. But now they would show them, two mongrel half-breeds would rule the wizarding world with an iron fist.

The Dark Lord had taught him to embrace the darkness... that it wasn't something to fear but something to worship. Magic with strength beyond human comprehension, dark magic wasn't for the weak or the fearful. For those who reached towards it fearlessly like the Dark Lord and Severus, dark magic was a generous mistress, abundant with her favours and generous with her blessings. But for those who didn't have the conviction or the gumption it swallowed them whole.

Across the lawn, the graves of the Riddle family were barely visible under the heavy cloud cover but looking at them reminded Severus of his own father, Tobias the drunk as his mother often liked to refer to her estranged husband. His feelings of inadequacy always rose when he was reminded of the man who had beaten him every miserable day of his life and then abandoned Severus's mother when she had told him she was a witch.

The Dark Lord alone knew of his hunger, his ambition and his skill. His need to prove himself to be something other than his father's son.

Oh, Albus had always known but he had never appreciated Snape's affinity to the dark arts. Of-course one couldn't say that Albus didn't know what the dark arts could offer the world, the wizarding kind... even humanity someday if they decided to share.

He had admitted it himself, when he was involved with Grindelwald, Albus had had few scruples. Their magic had been beautiful, powerful and beyond everything... revolutionary. But by the end of it, all Albus was, was an old man. It was just as well he had killed him before he could witness Severus break his promise in the most spectacular fashion.

Many things drove Severus towards undying loyalty to his Lord. None more than a promise he had extracted from the Dark Lord, a promise that would heal the gaping wound left by Lily in his soul. So many years after Potter's death he would have his revenge on both James Potter and the deceitful witch he married. There was another he had his eye on now, one who may not have looked like Lily but mirrored her in most other ways... oh when he had her, it would be glorious, he thought with a smirk as he made his way to the large wooden door of the manor, dragging a chest behind him...a chest that contained the beginnings of his legacy.

...

Tom Riddle heard the quite muttering of the unlocking spell before he heard the door of the house open. His snake like ears picking up even the softest of sounds outside the manor house of his paternal grandparents. He smirked, his most prodigious follower had arrived.

There were so few people worth using Legilimency on, but Severus Snape was the exception. With a mind that brilliant, Riddle had always known it would be touched with madness and indeed he had seen the inside of Severus's mind... the endless walkways of memories, the twisted ideas of revenge, the need for validation, the sore lack of a father and more Slytherin that anything the blind...thirsting ambition... it was all the traits that made him perfectly ripe for the most subtle form of Legilimency, he barely needed a nudge to tumble headfirst into a miasma of revenge.

No one knew how masterful Riddle had become in matters of the mind. During the time he didn't have a body, living like a weak parasite jumping from host to host he had learned all there was to learn about the dark art of manipulation. It wasn't power that was needed for this subtle magic but rather it was the intrinsic understanding of the deepest fears, the darkest desires and the most vulnerable spots that made up the human mind, the webs that made up a person's insecurities, anxieties and the things they were willing to fall to any depths for. Those weren't things he needed to learn to look for, after all it was exactly as Borgin had taught him _...all you need is a single chink in the armour, the Achilles heel, that tiny defect what will flip the tables in your favour. _

Severus had many chinks... his pride, his arrogance, his false martyrdom and the biggest of all... his obsession. Moulding him into the perfect spy had been easy and now he would mould him into his own Ares... a god of war, despised and feared he would carry out his reign of destruction like his mythological namesake and give Riddle what he had always wanted...power, magic... immortality.

Today Severus was bringing Riddle a very special package... one that he and his prodigal follower would turn into a weapon of such might that the war was as good as won. Severus was loyal to a fault, he had kept the package safe all these years despite the danger of the items being stolen or falling into incompetent hands that wouldn't know what to do with their power.

Today was the first night of the waxing moon, the perfect night for them to start on the _Malus Bestia _or the potion of bestial savagery. The muggles from the village rarely ventured near the old Riddle house and so converting it into a Potions lab seemed to be the sensible thing to do. They would begin the brewing of the potions... they would take a full two months to mature fully and only then could they begin conducting the experiments.

"Master." came Severus's nasally voice. "I have arrived." He hefted the oak and gold filigreed trunk that had been hidden in his quarters for the last two years onto the rotting desk of Tom Riddle Senior.

The heavy thud was like music to both their ears.

"Ah Severus." hissed out Riddle... a serpentine smile on his narrow, pale face, "We must begin post-haste, the moon grows weaker in the sky."

Severus didn't mind the abrupt way his master directed him, in fact the urgency of this tone matched the urgency within Severus... he was mere months away from his true legacy, from recognition and adulation. They could wait no longer.

He flipped open the case... revealing the carefully preserved dark magic cores and in the moonlight two pairs of eyes looked down at them in greed.

...

**Stormhaven Castle **

**Present Day, (May 1999) **

"You're sure, Granger." said the Italian wizard, looking into her eyes intently, "You understand that you could be hurt, Draco and I will do everything possible to make sure you remain unharmed, but the bonding does come with risk. But it keeps the others living around the castle safe."

"Why are we doing a bonding ceremony if I could get hurt, doesn't make sense to me."

"Because bonding you to Draco, especially with 'Ti's special runes will trick the Nandu into thinking you're his mate. That makes the fight two against one, his human and his leopard beast against the Shroud. The mating bond that it creates will help in keeping his head clear of influence longer. And for the safety of the other people who live in this castle its better if the Shroud gets its energy from one source and doesn't have to go hunting."

"What sort of bond it is?" she said, biting her lip unsurely.

"Look, why don't you ask Draco directly. You haven't spoken to each other in so long and the Shroud generally rests after a large intake of magic like that." Blaise suggested gently.

"See Draco..." Hermione whispered, stopping her pacing, "Yes... yes that's what I want. I want to see him."

"Get dressed, Betty will look after the wolfling. I'll take you to him." said Blaise quickly giving her a short bow and then walking out of the dungeon room, "I'll come fetch you in ten minutes."

Hermione hurried over to the rack of clothes in her room, it was mostly functional... jeans, t-shirts and tights but she caught sight of one long white skirt which she slipped on and a blue pheasant top. She felt nervous... jittery, she didn't know what she would do when she saw Draco. Last night it hadn't been him so pushing her sadness aside had been easy but today... in the light of day, she just wasn't so sure.

Mustn't dawdle, she thought as she went over to the washstand to fix her hair and brush her teeth, the one week she had spent in Stormhaven castle had done away with a lot of the physical damage of living on the run. Her thick, corkscrew curls were much heathier now and her warm olive skin once again shone with the lustre that could only take place with good food and plenty of fresh air.

"_He likes it long." _

She suddenly recalled Betty saying to her the first day, she must have been referring to Draco. It pained her to think that they had lived in the same place for so much time, but he hadn't come to her.

She looked at herself in the mirror and pinched her cheeks, leaving her hair down as Draco had always liked it. The dark circles under her eyes were gone now but the anxious crease that always appeared in the middle of her brows was back... she lifted a finger to sooth it away, trying on a smile for the first time.

Why hadn't he come to see her? Was it just these things inside him or did his human half feel some resentment as well. As much as Blaise assured her of Draco's love, she was unsure and fearful... she was the reason he was like this now.

As she continued to spiral into hopelessness and self-pity, Blaise returned, noticing the slightly dazed look in her eyes he cleared his throat.

"Come on, we have to spring it on him. He's been fighting with himself for days on whether or not to see you. If you just walk in, he won't have a choice. Besides being stuck up in that godforsaken tower just makes him brood even worse than before."

"Oh, dear Merlin he does like to brood, that man." sighed Hermione, the words slipping out of her mouth unconsciously. After realizing what she had said she slapped a hand on her mouth and grinned up at Blaise sheepishly.

He just winked back and gave a little laugh, gesturing for her to put her hand on his arm he led her out of the room.

Hermione looked at Zabini covertly from under her lashes, she had never expected the complex man hidden behind the façade of royal ennui he affected almost every day. She knew that expression, his deep eyes held secrets she knew he would never share... she had seen it often enough on Harry's face, but his unexpectedly fierce loyalty was a trait so rare in a Slytherin that she couldn't help but be curious.

"Why do you care so much about Draco, Zabini?" she asked curiously.

"I was in love with him." He said casually.

Hermione didn't allow her shock to show and instead said, "Oh... then what happened?"

Blaise grinned down at her, "I don't think you understand, Granger. I knew I was in love with him since we were eleven and I hated myself. I confessed out of shame at fourteen... I don't know... maybe I was looking for a fight thinking it might get rid of some of the shame I was feeling, but he just shrugged, wiped my tears and said we'd be friends forever. See he had known since we were eleven too." He said with a laugh, "I'll remember that afternoon for the rest of my life... it was the summer before fourth year and we were at his family's estate in Wiltshire; he never threatened to tell, not once, never held it over my head... never."

Hermione squeezed his arm where her hand rested, letting him know without words that it was okay... she understood that he didn't want to have to give everything away.

"That's why I was so glad when you two..." he said softly, clearing his throat awkwardly when she looked away. "He deserved some happiness in his life..."

While he was answering her question, he had led her all the way to the forbidden East wing, "I'm going to stop here." He said, "I have someplace to be, but Draco's study is the third door to the right of the hallway. He'll be in right now. Best of luck." He squeezed her hand gently before giving her a smile.

Hermione sighed before willing herself to stop shaking, the magic around the door that led to the East Wing continued to disturb her but now she knew the source was Draco, so her anxiety was somewhat eased.

She pushed the door open and headed inside. The dark hallways were eerie, her feet made no sound as she made her way to his study's door.

She took a deep, cleansing breath and knocked.

"Enter." Came the muffled voice from behind the door.

Hermione opened the door to see Draco Malfoy hunched over his desk, his face in his hands, his back hunched over...

"Draco?" she whispered tentatively.

"Oh god Granger." He gave a strangled gasp as soon as he heard her voice and when Hermione saw familiar silver eyes, she couldn't stop her feet... and just like that she was in his arms.

She didn't know who had moved first but they had come together in the middle of the room, he was so different now, taller, harder but he still smelt the same. Hermione heart thudded un uneven rhythm as she felt his strong, brawny arms tighten around her middle. She had missed him terribly

"I'm sorry." His voice was scratchy, his face buried in her hair, "I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry to." She murmured against his chest, feeling a sense of relief as his heart thumped... strong and true under her ear. And in that moment Hermione was so thankful he was alive that she forget all about the looming threats in front of her. "I missed you so much." she whispered, her voice thick with unshed tears.

"Here." He said, pulling away from her, "I want you to put this on." He held a little dragon pendant, carved out of wood and tied on a plain, black string, "It's to protect you."

"Protect me from what, Draco?"

"From me... in case I kill you."

* * *

**A/N- Hello friends, thank you so much for the love on the last chapter! I've really enjoyed reading all of you guys reviews and suggestions. we're in full Dramione mode now, so get ready for some nice steamy lemons soon. Other than that, I hope everyone is doing okay and is safe during this scary time. Maintain six-feet distance and wash your hands, kids! **

**And leave a review! **

**PS- Also shout out to BlackOpium4 on AO3 for the protection amulet idea, hope you don't mind that I nicked it lol **


	11. The Ritual

**X**

**Stormhaven Castle, May 1999**

**Present Day **

"I want to know everything Draco." Hermione said gripping his arms, her clear brown eyes trained on his face, "I want to know everything since you disappeared two years ago."

"First the amulet." He rasped, he looked tired... there were deep purple bruises under his eyes. Hermione really took her time in examining Draco then, there was no doubt that the frail, rail thin young boy had turned into a man. He kept running his hands through his much longer, wilder hair... a habit from when he was younger.

There was an almost feline power to his body now, unsurprising since the Nandu was a beast that appeared in the form of a leopard. He was dressed in a pair of dark leather pants that hugged the sinewy muscles of his hard thighs, a white shirt whose sleeves had been shoved up his forearms carelessly... she could see the runes through his shirt... they were calling to her. She reached out with a curious finger, running her hand over his warm, muscular chest... unlike the last night, his flesh was warm, firm and his heart a steady beat under her hands.

She couldn't help drawing closer, "You can help me put it on..." she whispered, lifting her mass of curly hair from her neck. He made her feel small and cherished against his much taller, larger frame and his own special scent, the one that had always clung to him... even when they were in school was still present, earthy and potent, if a little wilder.

She had always loved that scent, she remembered the first time he had snuck her out for a ride on his broom... how tight she had held onto him, the crisp cotton of his t-shirt under her clutching fingers, the cold Scottish night's air blowing her hair out behind her like a brown cloud, his easy laughter... the silky brush of his blond hair under her exploring fingers. She remembered every moment of theirs like it was yesterday. That was the night they had first made love, her first and only time.

Draco audibly swallowed before tying the ends of the black thread that held the rustic wooden dragon amulet around her neck. It was infused with ancient Germanic folk magic and would protect her from death. He looked into her eyes as he tied the string around her slim neck and caught his breath at the tender look in them.

"Fuck, Granger." He sighed, "I've missed you." He let his forehead rest against hers, "You know I fought with Blaise for days before finally giving up when he decided to go searching for you and then curse me... I was excited to receive his letter when he finally found you. I couldn't stop him from looking for you and bringing you here and then I..." his voice was thick with self-loathing.

"Is that why you haven't come to see me in all the time I have been here?" she asked gently.

He just laughed bitterly.

"What is this room?" she asked, looking around curiously in an effort to get that look off his face. The walls were covered in tome after tome of ancient books but what really interested her was the alter in the middle of the room. It was covered in black cloth with strange sigils painted in gold, a chalice of solid silver sat atop it in which some liquid glowed a bright orange.

"You don't want to know." He replied shaking his head, "Come, let's go for a walk and talk. I don't know what Blaise has told you, but you are in no way obligated to do anything for me."

One of the only things that hadn't changed about him were his gorgeous, mercurial eyes. Silver like a crystal-clear winter lake, his eyes couldn't hide anything he felt. In fifth year when they had started seeing each other Hermione could always guess his mood by how stormy they appeared that day. She was glad to see somethings never changed. "So strong Draco, all the time." She whispered, "It's okay to lean on others... especially when horrible things happen to you." She cupped one rough hand in her own much smaller palms and kissed it, "Let's go for that walk now." she tugged on his muscular arm.

"Just a moment." He replied, picking up a cape hanging near the door, "The sun..." he said apologetically, "I don't do so well in the sun anymore."

Hermione's heart sank, for Draco who loved the outdoors it must have been like a prison sentence. No Quidditch, no broom riding... nothing.

"Of-course." She cleared her throat, slapping on a bright smile.

He led her out with an arm around her waist, lifting the hood onto his long blond hair. They walked down the stairs and out the main door, but he stopped her before she went any further.

"Before we go any further... I do have something to confess to you." He said, "That night... wasn't the first night I've seen you since you've been here." He sighed, looking down at his hands with a tormented expression, "I swear on my magic that I didn't take anything from you but the first night you were here the beasts were fighting me for control."

"What happened then, why can't I remember?" she whispered.

"I erased that memory, I'll tell you everything... if you still want to listen." His voice held a slightly pleading note.

"Start from the beginning, Draco. I want to know everything that happened."

He took her hand and led her down the pathway before saying, "I don't even know where to start. It's been a year since they stuck these _things _inside me and everyday has been a struggle. Wake up... fight not to let the dark impulses get stronger... cringe from the light... feel my magic darken and rot. I don't know how much longer I can take it, it has stolen every ounce of my strength and I'm getting tired. The creatures inside me, even if they are in partial control, I am not the same person. Before you agree to the binding Granger you must understand that I no longer resemble the Draco Malfoy you knew. Not in temperament, my needs have grown...dark, wicked...sick"

She squeezed his hand, urging him to continue, "What happened in sixth year? After you ran from Hogwarts, not completing the task?"

"Snape killed the old man, but you know that. I thought I could hide out somewhere before coming to meet you. I knew you'd want my help finding the Horcruxes, but father found out about the plan. Kept it quite... waited for me to leave the house, then sent a squad after me. I was kept in the dungeon for months before they tortured me."

As they continued walking Hermione thought about the two years that they were apart.

"The Horcrux hunt didn't go as planned either, you see... after me, Harry and Ron found Slytherin's locket everything fell apart." she told him, her voice getting lower... like she wasn't there walking in the sun with him anymore, "Ron didn't understand... the locket was evil, it told him about us... you and me before I could confess to the boys but he didn't want to listen and so he stormed off. We never found him, and he never came back... I don't know if he's even alive."

"Hermione." He said gently, tilting her chin up towards him, "Ron was killed by Yaxley... he was on his way back to you and Potter."

"Killed..." she murmured, "He...was...killed, while coming back to us." Her expression was of utter bewilderment, like she couldn't fathom even the thought of Ron dying. Funny, quick-tempered Ron, her best friend. "No...he wouldn't have... maybe he's just missing."

"No kitten, he was killed by Yaxley." Draco said, his heart breaking for her as she looked up at him with no comprehension, "I know it's hard to accept, but Salazar's locket was given back to The Dark Lord and that's why Potter wasn't able to defeat him."

Hermione's blood slowed to a desultory pace in her veins, "But...but he knew... he knew he couldn't get caught... that we had to be together, it's my fault." She whispered, "It's all my fault that he stormed out like that, it was because I wasn't courageous enough to tell him that me and him couldn't be together, that's why the Horcrux was able to fill his head with lies." Tears dripped down her face and all she felt like doing was laughing... what had she done... they were in this mess because of her, her and her selfish furtive behaviour.

"All my fault..." she whispered bitterly, "It's all my fault."

"Enough, Granger." Said Draco firmly, taking a hold of her shoulders, "You aren't to blame for this."

"How can you not see!" she cried out hysterically, "I am poison to everything I touch, it's because of me that you ended up tortured and imprisoned and it's because of me that Ron was killed... because we fought and now everyone's dead." She moaned, falling to her knees in the grass, clutching herself, "All my fault..."

"Granger." Sighed Draco, bending down to her level, "Look at me, Hermione."

Hermione's soul felt like it was ripped in two, all this time she had been running selfishly, what of the other Weasley's? Did they know what had happened to Ron? Did they blame her? He would never have left that tent if it wasn't for what he had found out about her and Draco.

"Granger, I need you to look at me... whatever you think this isn't your fault."

"He would have never left if it wasn't for what that locket showed him. I knew he had feelings for me, but I just didn't have the courage to tell him I was in love with someone else." She said turning away from him, "I should have been honest."

"Granger, you didn't cast the _Avada." _He said, "Look at me and answer this one question for me. Why was it that the onus of rescuing an entire population of people lay in the hands of teenagers?"

"Because Harry was the Chosen One." She whispered.

"Fuck that." Scoffed Draco, "You Gryffindor's and your useless morality. I disagree with you when you say this was on you and Potter, making Horcruxes was unheard off in our day and age and suddenly you were expected to find and destroy these powerful tools of dark magic. I think that logic is deeply flawed, you were fucking eighteen and all of a sudden you have this task dumped on you, one with little to no instructions and you're expected to see it through."

"But...but..."

"No Granger no buts, Voldemort's army has been waiting for this day... training for it for decades. How long have you been preparing for this war huh?"

"We were still given a task, Draco. A task we failed, a task that got many of our friends killed."

"The time will come Granger, the time to defeat him will come but it was fallacy on the part of the Order to think that three teenagers with some camping supplies hunting forbidden dark artefacts would give them a leg up in a war that the other side has been preparing for their whole life."

He tugged on her arm, lifting her up before wrapping his cloak around her, "Don't you want to hear the rest of my monster story, Hermione." He grinned down at her before using the rough pads of his thumbs to wipe away the tears on her cheeks, "You have the right to grieve for him, Granger. You have the right to grieve for them all but don't fall down a pit of self-loathing and pity... it's no use."

Hermione felt her heart soar at his casual grin, the pain of losing Ron would be shoved into the vault of things she had yet to deal with. She knew it wasn't a healthy way to process trauma but the prospect of remaining melancholy when she had a day of sunshine with Draco didn't appeal to her.

"I'll just have to deal with the guilt later." She told him, "Shove it into that little Pandora's Box inside my mind where all horrific things live."

"You no longer have to do that Granger, you have me again."

She looked into his clear silver eyes and for the first time in months felt peace invading her soul.

"I'm never going to stop feeling guilty about what happened, you know." She whispered.

"Don't worry Granger, when the nightmares strike... I'll be there to hold your hand."

He wished that was the whole truth, but the reality was that they were both just stumbling along. They now lived in a world of uncertainty and danger.

And so, she looked into his eyes and told him, "I don't care about the consequences... I want to be bonded to you. I refuse to let these creatures inside you take you away from me."

"You can't take this decision lightly, Granger." He said, his eyes a maelstrom of emotion, "I love you too much to have you look at me with hatred in your eyes when you see the depravity of these beings."

"Never, Draco... never." She said and before she could second guess herself, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her warm mouth against his... sealing their deal the old-fashioned way. With a kiss.

Draco stood still for a moment, allowing her to explore before plunging his large, rough hands into her curly hair... his tongue invaded the warm crevice of her lips like a conquering lord... taking over the kiss like it was his god given right. She shuddered as his other hand cupped and caressed her hip, sending shockwaves of desire coursing down her nerve endings.

"You're mine now. I'll do everything I can to keep you." His voice was rough, savage and his smile feral.

Hermione simply arched up, throwing her arms around his neck... he was hers now too.

...

The way Zabini explained the bonding ritual was simple, Ma'ati would put the rune that binds Hermione to the Nandu in between Hermione's breasts and before that they would stamp the hot iron that proclaimed, she was a Death Eaters slave in the event of any Death Eater coming calling, onto her thigh.

It would hurt like hell and 'Ti had already informed Hermione that once the rune was on her there was no way to control the animal.

"You're to be his mate." She explained, "That means he'll be out of control until he has bred you."

"Breed?" she whispered, "That sounds..."

"It's exactly as it sounds, it's not making love, witch, he'll probably take you from behind. The way animals do." she said it so matter of fact that Hermione didn't know how to reply.

You agreed to this, she reminded herself, despite knowing everything. Draco had told her that the beasts had changed him, his hunger and his sexuality was heightened and darker.

She had only ever been with one man, Draco... but they had been teenagers fumbling about in the dark. This was different and she was scared... terrified.

Blaise looked over at Draco as 'Ti explained what was going to happen to Hermione.

"Did you tell her about the Razing? Or that you still have to work with Him?" Blaise questioned.

"No, I haven't, and I doubt you've mentioned it to Potter either." He muttered back.

"Potter knows what he needs to know." Said Blaise looking away, "The prophecy by the Roma girl specifically..."

"Quite!" said Draco harshly, "We don't know what it meant, it's a prophecy... easy to misconstrue."

Blaise shook his head, "If she finds out and has a negative reaction, we'll never be able to recover lost ground. You know how these Gryffindor's are. And the prophecy was pretty damn clear, child of beast blood... no one that I know of has survived what they put you through Draco and they're bound to get suspicious... after all the Dark Lord had heard the prophecy before the rumour of It existing even began. "

"That is my problem to deal with, right now we have more pressing concerns than the Gryffindor's ridiculous notions of valour and fairness and that damn prophecy... she has to survive the ritual first."

Draco studied Hermione's face as 'Ti told her what she had sighed herself up for, the terror reflected in her eyes gave him no pleasure, but this ceremony had to happen.

"She's strong." Said Blaise, looking over at Ganger, "She'll make it."

Some sacrifices had to be made, some lies had to be told.

"We'll hold the ritual in Draco's study, once you have the brand on you Granger, you'll be the property of a Death Eater and no one other than him can have you. But you must remember, you cannot admit to a single soul outside this castle who you are or who you belong to. You will be killed along with every single creature in this castle."

"Why not?" Hermione questioned curiously.

"You're at the top of the Dark Lord's Doomsday logbook for capture and return. Your capture will fetch a high bounty. We have broken the New Laws by bringing you here and branding you with Draco's mark, especially due to Draco's status among the Death Eaters currently." Blaise replied.

"Doomsday logbook?"

"It's his accounting of every rebel and Order member who went MIA during the second war. Once the dissidents are killed or captured with definitive proof their names are stuck from the book, he keeps it personally so that there is no tampering in the records."

Blaise walked over to her and bent to her level and reiterated in his most serious way, "No one can know, understood."

She nodded solemnly, it was best she keep her mouth shut for her own and Teddy's sake as well. Hermione wasn't a fool, she could sense when Draco wasn't telling her the whole truth, but she was also a pragmatist. There was only so long she could run, the more she learned about the second war the more she felt like an idiot. What had the Order been thinking, their operations had been scattered and far too lax.

Voldemort had planned a strategic military operation with a well-trained and equipped cavalry and solid base of ideas to build his empire on. More and more Draco's words of this afternoon made sense to her... had they really thought that just destroying his Horcruxes would stop a well-trained army? Not just a well-trained army but an army with spy's in every corner of their world, dangerous weaponry that they hadn't even considered and a well thought out battle plan that didn't just rely on one person like the Orders.

Tom Riddle was no fool, he had planned to conquer the wizarding world and had planned for it before hand; the logbook, the secret death squads, the weaponizing of magic. He had learned from his first pass and come back prepared. It was no wonder they had lost so badly.

"Granger, once I brand you with the mark, I'll leave the room, 'Ti will work on the spell that puts the sigil on your person and leave too. Don't try and run, it'll only inflame the beast further." Blaise explained

"You don't need to keep warning me. I know what is going to happen. I am prepared." She said, her head held high, "Let's us proceed."

All four of them walked up to the hidden room in the eastern tower where the alter in the middle of Draco's study was set up for the ritual.

"Forgive me, Granger." Said Blaise as he muttered a spell that rapidly bound Hermione's hands and legs to a chair in the middle of the alter.

"You didn't need to bind me Zabini, I would've stayed still." She replied in a huff.

Blaise ignored her as he took the poker given to each Death Eater as their reward for being on the dark side after the war and shoved it into the fireplace, the flames turned a deep violet as the magicked iron touched the fire.

"_Adiuro te modo animam viventem filius in domo Domini Malfoy. I bind thee to the only son of the house of Malfoy. __usque in imperio parere sigil remins in corpore et sanguine, ita vicissim tuo corpore ejus__obligaverit__. Blood of his blood, I bind thee body and soul." _

Draco knelt near Hermione in the middle of the alchemy circle, she kept her focus on his still silver eyes. He was still with her, she had to keep her focus on that. This was for him, to make up for some of her sins.

Zabini used a small ritual athame made of beaten silver to slice into Draco's palm and then her's dropping their mingled blood onto the sizzling brand.

"Eyes on me Granger." Commanded Draco, his deep voice keeping her focus on him, "This is us. No one can take you from me now. Keep your focus on me."

Blaise moved her skirt out of the way, barring one soft thigh. The brand was the mark of infinity § a mathematical symbol, she would've laughed at the irony of Voldemort using a muggle symbol if it she wasn't so scared.

"Ready?" asked Zabini, looking into her eyes.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She replied, holding Draco's large, warm hand tighter.

The smell of burning skin was the first thing that struck her... so deeply unpleasant and then it was the deep searing pain. Was that her voice? That high keening sound of pain... it had to be. What an undignified racket she was making, if the pain wasn't so intense, she would've been ashamed.

Hermione felt the heat of the magicked iron on her skin, stripping her of her stoic façade, ripping through the months of pain... leaving her a howling mess. She felt the burning mark on her skin and the mingled blood run down her thigh like when lost her virginity... this somehow felt equally important. As tears dripped down her face, she tasted the salt on her lips and reminded herself again... this was her penance.

And as quickly the pain had come it disappeared... leaving behind a sharp burning sensation on her thigh.

Draco reached up to wipe the sweat from her brow and she managed to open her bleary eyes to see Zabini leaving the room.

"Me next." Said 'Ti, "This won't hurt."

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded her head, feeling the pain of the brand recede more and more... clearing her mind from the haze of hurt.

Ma'ati had mixed the herbs needed in a wooden bowl, since it was only for one rune, she began her chanting invoking the power of the fire Orisha, the folk god that commanded the Nandu. This was different than the brand that Zabini had put on her, the magic was gentle, it was binding magic but of different nature.

She was calling upon the gods like she used to hundreds of years ago when she was a shaman in her village to bind the beast in a mating bond with the woman in front of her. Using a paste of tonka beans, adam and eve root, iron ore and lapis she rubbed a circle onto Hermione's chest. The speial rune she had drawn in between Hermione's breasts was small and inconspicuous. That rune unlike the mark made by the brand was softer, Hermione felt her body open... her muscles relaxing to make room for her mate's body. Ma'ati had mixed a combination of herbs used specifically for love workings, to soften Hermione's body for the brutal possession of the beast.

She used the tip of her finger to draw it on while continuously chanting.

The magic was unlike anything Hermione had ever experienced, the magic of a demi-god. Beneath his white shirt Draco's body lit up with yellow light, his own tattooed on runes lighting from within.

With a final sprinkle of calendula over the couple, the Twin-Soul hastily left the room knowing that it was just a matter of time before the beast opened its eyes and once it did it would rip anything that wasn't it's mate apart.

Hermione looked up from the shower of yellow petals to see Draco's eyes had turned to a beautiful, intense topaz and his canines were extended... his face a mask of feral, animal possessiveness...

"Mate."

...

**A/N- Apologises for the late chapter guys, I'm gonna be honest. I was just being super lazy these past few days and couldn't get my butt into gear. That being said enjoy this chapter and leave me some reviews! I always love hearing what y'all have to say about the story.**

** Lots of hugs and please stay safe. **


	12. Golden Eyes

**XI **

**Stormhaven Castle, May 1999**

**Present Day **

Silver was replaced by gold, thought Hermione in a daze and the gaze that studied her now was anything but the restful one of earlier, that had assured her silently through the branding ordeal. No, this gaze was like fire, hot and wild... it told her only one thing, she had no clue what was coming her way.

The Beast growled low in his throat, his smile was savage... barring canines that looked like they could crush her throat in a single bite. Hermione watched in fascinated horror as his body transformed, his muscular arms bulging out of the thin white shirt, the already sinewy muscles that roped his thighs seemed to grow and the intense heat of his body was of a vital animal in its prime. The dark ink of the runes now glowed a bright gold, like Draco's eyes and the veins along his arms stood out starkly. His chest roped with hard muscles expanded, making him seem even bigger than before.

He was so darkly handsome, so wild, so primal that Hermione wanted to cringe away from him and yet continue to look her fill.

"My mate." He repeated, his voice was low and gruttal... like the growling of a great cat. Hermione watched the transformation with fascinated eyes, Draco Malfoy had always been handsome but the beast taking over him made him truly transcendent, before her gaze long jet claws broke through the surface of his fingertips, he sliced through her restraints, but she was transfixed unable to move from the chair.

He slowly rose from where he knelt on the ground near her, even bigger than before.

"Smells like flowers." he growled, running his nose over the crevice's between her neck and her shoulder.

"D...Draco?" she whispered, shivering... her sensitivity heightened.

"Kitten." He replied in the same gruttal voice, his tongue snaked out, roughly licking down the same path his nose had traversed earlier. One large hand, topped with obsidian nails closed around her throat, not in a threating manner but in a hold of sheer possessiveness. The other made its way down the front of her blouse; ripping it effortlessly with his talons.

The pleasure-pain of his hold was further deepened by the rough fingers that plucked on one dusky brown nipple, drawing it away from her breast as he breathed in her scent.

She cried out as he bit down on the sensitive throbbing pulse in the middle of her clavicle.

"Mine." She felt the dominance in his voice to the core of her being, her cleft softened as if in anticipation of his possession. His handling of her was less that gentle, yet the rough, calloused hands of this new alter of Draco was the exact opposite of the one she had experienced only hours before. It was as hot as the Shroud had been cold, the burning heat of his body seeped into her own like he was heating her core from within. His possession had nothing to do with her magic, no this new alter of Draco's wanted her and by the look on his face he would kill anyone who tried to take her away from him.

The Beast nipped his way down the middle of her sternum, smelling the tonka bean paste which gave of a sweet, mildly peppery scent. He licked the underside of one breast, before taking one nipple into his mouth. He tasted her like he was savouring the finest chocolate, rubbing his patrician nose along her plump breast. His rough hands exploring up and down her body, the claws made her nervous, but she could tell by his gaze that he would never use them to hurt her.

Hermione gasped when his canines flashed in a feral grin of such wild, savage ferocity that for the first time a trickle of unease slid down her back. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. Instinctively she began to struggle but he loved that. With a mighty snarl he ripped the rest of her clothing and all of a sudden Hermione Granger was naked. His mouth closed around one breast, giving her, a nip of warning and she felt his teeth were marking her as he continued. Using his sharp canines to leave deep red marks of possession on each bit of her body that he traversed. It liked to see the marks on her body, like the reminded him that she was his.

Draco studied his prey carefully, her nude body shone on the semi-lit room. Her long, graceful limbs were the colour of walnut toffee all splayed open for his inspection... with his thighs he kept her legs open for his pleasure, her soft thick thighs and pink cleft with its tuft of chestnut curls a perfect cradle for his cock. Her full breasts topped with their dusky nipples were already marked by his gentle nips, the Beast felt a savage amount of pleasure seeing their mark on her body. The body of their mate.

Hermione felt herself being lifted from the chair and was thrown down, her delicate nape held by one rough hand as the other explored her arched back roughly. His hold soon moved from her nape to grip her long amber locks, pulling her body taut like a bow. Even struggling was hard against the heft of his body, he held her in place with barely any effort at all.

"Easy, please." she pleaded, for the first time realizing how much power the creature within him really held.

"You don't give the orders here, kitten." Came the slow, growling reply. And yet his grip eased, allowing her to move her body towards him.

Through the layers of his clothing she could feel his throbbing manhood against her naked buttocks. Hermione twisted ineffectively, watching as he freed his cock from the confines of the leather pants. Thick and ruddy his penis looked erect and ready to burst. A little smirk on his face said that he knew what she was thinking about. She had never thought she'd think of a man's penis as beautiful but Draco's was, thick and red with all the blood rushing towards it, it was crowned by a large mushroom head and nestled in a base of blond curls.

His tall form covered her own and his hand that had kept a steady hold of her long hair tightened, her own body... so touch starved after months running began to shiver in reaction. Every nerve stood on attention, in anticipation... in fear... in excitement.

Draco ran the head of his aroused flesh against the edge of her quim, working on spreading her moist arousal around the petals of her secret opening.

"Easy please." she pleaded in a soft voice.

The Beast had stopped listening; the scent of her skin, the smell of her arousal... sweet and musky was crowding his senses, her soft, small body didn't look like it could accommodate his thick arousal, but he had to have her... in a haze of lust he pushed into her.

Hermione couldn't help but let out a pained moan, a mingled sound of hurt and desire. He filled her tiny body like a battering ram, yet she couldn't help but feel like he belonged here.

The Beast grit his teeth, she was so tight. Her quim spasmed as he attempted to settle his cock further inside her tight sheath, her warm muscles grabbed him and urged him to move his hips. Shoving himself deeper and deeper into her small, resisting body. Slowly reaching down with his other hand he found the little button tucked between her folds, using the tip of his fingers to rub gently until a gush of juices ran down his cock, letting him ease into her.

Fuck she was small, her little pussy gripped his cock meeting his brutal precision with resistance all the way yet gripping him like it wouldn't let go.

Hermione felt Draco's fingers rubbing her clit and she let out a soft moan, his large cock wasn't fully in yet but as he continued to play with her little button, she felt her body loosen slow and steady for his entry.

"Good kitten." He praised softly, removing his hand from around her hair and sliding his arm around her shoulders, pulling her flush against his own chest. He turned her face towards his, his cock jerking at the sight of her tears mingled with open mouthed pleasure, using his tongue to lap the few drops of dew that lingered on her cheeks as he continued to play with her little pussy.

Balanced on his cock with his arms firmly around her small body she felt him move, he was lifting her... as easily as a small doll and moving them up against the closest wall where her body was flush with his, but he had all the control. She was literally trapped between a rock and a hard place. **(A/N- You can make your judgements as to who's the rock and what's the hard place lmao)**

"Sweet girl." He growled inside the delicate shell of her ear, "No one has been inside this sweet little cunt besides me, have they?"

Hermione nodded helplessly, throwing her head back against his shoulder as he thrust into her for the first time. The pain was slowly receding, leaving behind a warm, wet feeling of arousal instead. One clawed hand moved up to her soft belly, skimming his jet claws over her abdomen gently... causing her to shiver before sliding up to her breast. He tugged on one nipple roughly, making her arch her back further into his embrace as began to thrust. He adjusted his strokes according to her body's response. Quick and shallow and then long and languorous, making her gasp as she braced herself against the cold stone.

This wasn't making love, it was a mating... rough and hard, he took her with little regard to comfort, her body a mere plaything for this powerful creature. She simply held on like a doll buffeted by strong winds in a storm as he made her body his own playground, her pleasure a secondary consideration to the wild mating.

Unexpectedly she felt her own body's response to the rough handling, her orgasm welling up inside her as he continued to take her. She moaned out, curling her hands into fists as the barrier broke and she felt herself cumming against his thick cock. The orgasm was so unexpected she felt her body go limp in his arms, her juices running down her thighs in a sticky mess.

The Beast felt himself draw closer to fulfilment as his mate's body spasmed around his sporadically, her internal muscles tightening on his cock in a way that made him go crazy.

Must... mark... he remembered. Rubbing his nose against that same spot he had started on, the sensitive crevice of her neck and he bit down, his canines releasing the fluid that marked her with his scent into her bloodstream.

Hermione cried out as she felt his lips close over her delicate neck and his teeth pierce her soft skin, but the pain soon receded... leaving behind a soft, drugged feeling, opening her body even more to Draco's battering.

Wasn't long now, he grit his teeth as he felt the tidal wave of his orgasm tighten his cock, he drew back and let out a loud roar as he hammered into her, releasing his seed into her soft channel as she cried out. His orgasm triggering another one from her, she moaned as her body shook, reaching its peak again.

They stood locked together like that for a long time, each breathing hard as they tried to recover from the earth-shattering experience they had just had. His strong arms held her steady against the wall as he slipped his penis out of her and flipped her around to face him. His eyes remind that topaz colour and his lips barred to reveal a feral smile of savage satisfaction. One hand clamped around her neck in a possessive hold as he declared in a lazy, languid voice, "You're all mine now."

...

Zabini stood in Theo's laboratory uncomfortably, there were so many little glass jars and bits and bobs about that he always felt like a giant clumsy oaf in this room.

"C'mon Theo. You can do that later, I have get going. What did you want to talk about?"

Theo Nott lifted his head from the microscope where he was looking at a slide and came over to his friend. Blaise was disconcerted to find Theo's eyes deceptively clear and his face set in worried lines.

"Those blood samples you got me last week, they were from the muggleborn prisoners in Hogwarts, weren't they?" he questioned Blaise.

Zabini sighed and waved his hand impatiently, "Yes for the hundredth time yes. I did what you asked, I followed all your instructions to the T, Nott... now tell me have you found something that can undo the damage to Malfoy?"

If anything, Theo's face just got more anxious, "Come here, I have to show you something."

"What?" Blaise muttered exasperated.

Theo simply pointed to the microscope.

"What am I looking at?" said Blaise, blankly staring through the lenses and simply seeing little objects floating around in a pool of red.

"Do you remember when I explained to you that I think there is a certain gene that we can attribute to the existence of magic? That either you have it or you don't."

"Yes so, what does that have to do with anything."

"So, it's usually genetic. That's why pureblood families exist, because the parent's pass the gene down to the children and so on, creating a familial legacy. Muggle born's with magic are either a genetic fluke or they have a recessive gene." He explained, "Are you following along so far." When Blaise nodded, he continued, "A recessive gene for magic is like a recessive gene for red hair, one generation has it then it skips a generation and the third generation has it but no matter muggleborn or pureblood, if you have magic you have the genetic marker."

"But this is just in theory, right?"

"Maybe not anymore." Theo said, running his hand through his hair, his spectacled eyes reflecting his worry.

"What did you find Nott?"

"Something's been done to these muggleborns in captivity Zabini. Those blood samples had something in them... or a lack of something to be more precise."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, The Dark Lord has found a way to remove their magic... on a biological level. And if he can do it to them, he can do it to us... none of us our safe."

...

**A/N- DUN DUN DUN... Leave a review kids, a love reading what you guys have to say 3**


	13. A Secret Weapon

**XII**

**Hogwarts, The Dark Lord's Stronghold **

**Present Day, (May 1999)**

The dungeons of the castle stank of human refuse and filth. Despite Severus Snape's affinity to dark places even he couldn't stand the smell of death that permeated the walls of the underground prison. Gone were the days where the dungeons of Hogwarts were the dormitories of Slytherin House, now the rooms were simply holding cells where prisoners of war, rebellion leaders, Order members and young muggle born children were kept chained up. The stone walls kept the dungeons cold, damp and despite it being summer in Scotland the smell of human bodies all packed together like sardines in a tin left a bitter scent in the air.

As he swept through he could hear the screams echoing off the walls of each cage, the filled him with an odd sort of thrill. The sound of a woman pleading for her life, the sound of a broken mind sobbing while he continued to be tortured. It was worse than Azkaban and yet he managed to move through it without it bothering him overly much.

The lack of sunshine made it the perfect breeding ground for disease; killing the younger prisoners in droves, but the Dark Lord didn't much care about who died and who lived, down here. The prison was always full, especially recently when since the ledger that recorded the birth of magical, muggle born children had continued to generate names after the Dark Lord's victory two years ago and now finally Voldemort had a reason for these children to be brought into the magical fold.

Their magic would feed his resurrection, the potion that Severus had been testing on rebels produced an interesting result. They could not only wipe out the magic of witches and wizards, they could also capture it. The Dark Lord was jubilant, maybe the magic they stole would help restore his full power and his old body?

Perhaps mused Snape he was what the muggles called a psychopath since he barely felt any remorse for taking these children and putting them into a dungeon to steal their magic. He was chuffed that since the potion used on Malfoy hadn't worked, this newest one had and now would propel his name into the ranks of magical history.

"Please..." called out a thin, reedy voice, "Please I'm thirsty, I'm so thirsty."

Through the rusted bars of the cell, a small white hand reached out to him, trembling with strain.

Well he wasn't completely heartless so he whipped out his wand and muttered an _Aguamenti _allowing the small blonde girl to drink from the tip of his wand, she couldn't have been more than thirteen, her clothes... the same ones that she had been taken from her parent's house in, were filthy and tattered, her thin face showed exhaustion and her wide blue eyes showed pain so deep it belied her young life.

Wasn't he supposed to feel something? Maybe compassion? Or disgust?

But nothing... he felt nothing.

She collapsed after drinking her fill, allowing Snape to move on to what he really came down here to do. He thought it was really a blessing that he barely remembered any of their faces once they weren't in his eyeline anymore. Frankly most of them were an eyesore.

Severus was so pleased with his own ingenuity for having taken the right side in the war, of-course for people hampered by their morals the right side was the side of the Order. For him the right side was the side the won. Not only did Voldemort allow him to explore the depths of his talents with potions and the dark arts but he was also his mentor in the subtle arts of Occlumency and Legilimency.

Talents that Snape would eventually use to capture his quarry, the beautiful muggleborn Hermione Granger. He had had his eye on her since she became friends with the Potter boy, the annoying young girl who had been nothing more than a nuisance had grown into a woman worth possessing, his obsession with her had only grown as she had... her beauty as she matured making all that fire inside her only more desirable. He often grew hard just thinking of the ways he would hurt her once he had her in his hands, she would be his war prize.

He had seen the same fire in her eyes that Lily had once possessed, seen the same passion that he longed to capture in Lily so many years ago. He didn't just wish to possess her, he wished to break her... make her his perfect wee doll. She would give him everything he had hoped Lily Evans would and he would stop at nothing until she was found.

After the Parkinson boy had discovered the Roma girl who gave the prophecy for the Dark Lord's second demise, Voldemort had become paranoid and his new goal was to flush of any elements of dissent in his ranks. There were Death Eaters scouring the globe looking for Potter, every day. But it wasn't just Potter that the Dark Lord was worried about, no his paranoia made it perfect for Snape to establish himself as the Dark Lord's only trustworthy general. He planned to be more than just powerful, he planned to be the one to take over after the Dark Lord was gone.

He had reached the end of the dark corridor where he knew Voldemort would soon be joining him. Behind the door was housed their most precious asset. The one who would lead them to Potter if everything went according to plan. And if Potter was captured, his own doll wouldn't be difficult to find at all.

He pulled open the door, greeting the object that would lead them to the final frontier of victory.

"Hello Ginny. I have your dinner for you, my pet."

Against the wall, chained with large iron manacles lay Ginny Weasley, thin and dirty. Her glorious red hair that had so often reminded him of Lily Evans had been shorn close to her scalp, her brown eyes were sunken in with a lack of food and her thin body shivered as the cold air from outside her cell entered with him.

With eyes so glazed, she looked like she was drugged the red head lifted her face to peer into his face and whispered, "Hello master."

He stepped inside the dank cell and walked over to the corner where she was chained up against the wall, her eyes followed him like that of a devoted puppy's. When they had captured her after the Battle of Hogwarts one would have imagined that she would've learned to shield herself better especially since she had already been a victim of the Dark Lord's horcrux when she was younger. But Gryffindor's were so arrogant, assuming that everything would always work itself out for them.

The Dark Lord had realised quickly and triumphantly her skills for blocking their Legilimency remained weak, turning her hadn't been a matter of 'if' but a matter of 'when'. She wasn't ready just yet but once she was, she would be the perfect asset. Her mind had been pliable, so easy to manipulate that it had barely posed as a challenge.

He smirked as he got down onto his haunches and ran a hand through her shorn red hair.

"How are you, pet?"

"Ready to serve at your will, master." the fear in her voice was an aphrodisiac.

He simply couldn't resist, there was something about the submissive way she bowed her head that made his cock rock hard. His long, bony fingers began to unbutton the white smock she wore.

"Eyes on me, pet." He snapped, "What is your main purpose?"

"My purpose is to provide my master with pleasure." She said, her voice taking on the dreamy quality that was triggered by the use of little trigger words put into her mind by him.

"What else is your purpose?"

"My purpose is to find Harry Potter and deliver him to my lord." She hadn't been converted into a Death Eater... she was simply a honey-pot. Her mission as drilled into her mind by him and the Dark Lord was to try and reconnect with any of her old Order comrades when she was released and lead the Death Eaters to their hideouts, meeting spots and gatherings.

"Good girl." He praised, "Good pet."

Breaking her had been a task that had given Severus such deep pleasure, even more when she had crumbled under his power with such ease. He savoured the memories of transforming her into his pet the same way one savours a particularly good elf-made wine. She was his little project and if successful in her task she would cement his position in this new world in the most irrevocable way.

His fingers slid down the opening of her smock, rubbing along her bony chest to find her small breasts, "And how will you provide your master with pleasure?" he felt a rush of arousal at those words, soon he would be using them on a different subject... the subject that haunted his dreams, the object of his ultimate desire.

She simply stood, her brown eyes blank and the chains that manacled her wrists and ankles to the walls rattling and lifted up her skirt, displaying her bare pussy.

"Good pet." He praised, enjoying the shameful red flush that decorated her pale skin. Not moving from his position on his haunches he drew one finger down over her cleft before shoving it deep inside her.

"Who does this cunt belong to?"

"To you master."

Snape laughed, low and sinister before unbuttoning the placket of his own pants and pulling out his cock, "Come then slut, suck your master's cock." He taunted, knowing full well that her mind was far to broken to register the surreptitious words that mocked her.

...

**The Sunken City of Venice **

**Present Day **

Blaise Zabini braced himself before turning the key to the door of the underground bunker. He didn't know what he would find inside or what state he would find Potter in after their last altercation. He didn't know how he was going to get him to agree but Zabini had just received a tip that his family property that he had stashed Potter in was about to be raided by a group of Death Eaters on the Dark Lord's orders. He didn't have time to fight with the other wizard. They needed to leave. NOW.

But he wasn't prepared for the total destruction that met his eyes when he finally got the door open and the hunched figure of Harry Potter with bloody fingers laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling despondently. Pieces of paper lay shredded on the ground, Potter's nails were bloody from clawing at the walls as streaks of dried blood decorated each corner of the small room, the inkwell and quills lay smashed on the stone floor, the deep blue ink looking like a pool of blood on the floor.

"Don't touch me Zabini." came the bitter sound, "Let me out of here. I've had enough."

"I have news." muttered the Italian wizard, "We have to leave, a squad of Death Eaters is coming here. Your dramatics can wait another day."

The green-eyed wizard just shrugged, "Maybe it's for the best. I'm ready to die."

Before Blaise could respond he heard the thundering sound of several booted feet on the stairwell that led to the basement.

"Fuck." he swore, "I'm not dying here Potter, and neither are you."

...

**A/N- Hello my lovely readers! I'm so sorry for the short chapter, but things are really going to start heating up from now on in the story. I've been struggling to write a bit recently (this lockdown is really driving me up the wall) but I do hope you guys are enjoying the story. I always look forward to seeing what y'all have to say and the reviews are really getting me through this crazy time. I hope you're all staying safe and healthy. **


	14. Changeling

**XIII**

**Somewhere in the Sunken city of Venice **

**Present Day, May 1999**

"Get up." He hissed, "I'm not letting you die here, Potter." Zabini's large, tan hands shook as he tried to get the despondent Harry Potter up from his corner. "Ready to die he says, you're ready to die, huh." His voice was taking on a hysterical note now, "You don't have the luxury of dying, Potter!"

The heavy sound of dragon hide boots on old marble were both so distinctive and terrifying that Blaise felt the utter desperation of a dying man begging for his last drop of water in a desert. Too late, he would be too late. There was no chance for them to leave here together.

"You need to leave, Potter." He said, giving the bespectacled wizard a shove towards the door, "Another few minutes and you'll get your death wish so unless you're very-very sure about dying here today I suggest you make a run for it."

Against his better judgement Blaise whipped out his father's old wand and shoved it towards Harry, "Just go, just fucking go, Potter."

Harry looked at Blaise owlishly, his eyes the only vibrant spot on his face.

The loud sound of a contingent of soldiers thundering down the stairs was enough to rouse Potter into action. Studying his lover and his jailer with a look of calm determination the Boy Who Lived made a run for it... abandoning the one person who had kept him alive.

Blaise could do nothing but wait... like a man set for the gallows he thought with an ironic smirk on his face.

The contingent led by Marcus Flint was only a few men and as they rounded the corner of the old staircase leading to the hidden bunker Blaise was ready.

"Fucking fag." snarled Flint catching sight of Blaise, "Why are you down here?"

"Oh, I didn't know I needed permission from you to be in my own home, Flint." replied Blaise airily.

"Search the rooms." Flint directed his men, "I want everything checked."

In a surprise move the tall Welsh Death Eater grabbed Zabini's neck, his movement's quick and precise in defiance of his rather large stature. He wrapped one thick hand around Blaise's neck dragging the choking wizard down and thrusting him against the wall. Slamming his face again and again until bloody, "Tell me fag was getting your dick sucked worth your life? How long have you been hiding Potter down here?"

"I haven't hidden anyone." choked out the dark-haired wizard, his mouth filling with blood... his response garbled.

"You liar." Hissed Flint, his small grey eyes were malicious, and his large fleshy lips parted to display his dirty, yellowing teeth, "What other reason could you possibly have for to retain this dingy little bunker?"

Blaise kept silent, it was probably his best defence.

"I have ways to make you talk Zabini."

The beefy hand around his neck tightened as his other... sweaty and florid reached down... under Blaise's cloak for the fastening's of his pants...

"Perhaps you'll enjoy it enough to reveal your secrets, you fucking cunt."

And for the first time in his life Blaise Zabini was helpless... in a place where no one could hear his screams.

...

**Stormhaven Castle, May 1999**

**Present Day **

Ma'ati studied the old castle that was now her home from the barn's roof... through the windows she could see the small house-elf tending to the wolfling child that the witch had brought along with her and she could also see the coupling ritual of the witch and Master Draco... soon she would be required back inside but for now she was free... to feel the cold Scottish air cooling her warm skin and to breathe the fresh mountain air that carried with it the tang of blood.

She had always known that her days of peace were coming to an end, it was so like the nature of man to try and defy the laws of equivalent exchange and throw the world order into chaos. But she knew in her bones Voldemort couldn't remain as he was for one cannot demand power without paying an equal price for it.

Another war was coming.

And this time it wouldn't be enough to offer a sacrifice of blood.

...

For moments after their coupling Draco knew nothing, his body collapsed over Hermione's much smaller form in exhaustion. Her own face was flushed, and it didn't take long for her to collapse from extended exhaustion, the emotional toll of their lovemaking and the pain caused to her body during the binding.

They fell asleep, wrapped around each other in a way that wouldn't have been possible anytime other than during repose. After all this was merely the beginning, the sharp edges of their respective souls existed still. One couldn't wash away years of hardship and pain with a single shining moment of absolute intimacy.

Draco's dreams were often restless, filled with images of what happened after Hogwarts had been taken, his own sojourn in the dungeons where is body was treated like that of a lab-rat's, poked and prodded and torture... his blood soaked nightmares were also the reason he rarely slept more than a few hours.

They filled him with anger but also...guilt, Theo called it survivors guilt. Draco didn't think he felt guilty for having survived, but he certainly felt guilty for not having the power to have done anything to save those who hadn't especially those who had been much weaker than him... fragile. In his nightmares he often felt their censuring gaze and their broken voices screaming obscenities at him.

You returned to serve the monster that gutted us, they would scream. Traitor, they would cry... their eyes welling with great floods of tears that would turn into rivers of blood drowning him until it was like he could feel the viscous liquid staining his lips and tightening his throat even while he was awake.

Memories mixed with his nightmares often, prompting him to seek further refuge in the darkness to try to avoid the voices of those who died beside him.

When he had been banished to Stormhaven Castle he had all but begged in the madness of fever for Theo to rip his eyes out, after all if he couldn't see maybe the faces of the many who had died during Severus's failed experiment would stop cursing him for being alive.

Because certainly... he hadn't deserved to live while they died... this... this abomination that he was, his soul ravaged into half beast, half man... quarter man, really if he was telling it accurately.

But for the first time in months his sleep was dreamless until he stood all of a sudden in the savanna.

...

"_Good afternoon, my dear." _

The voice echoed off each corner of his dream... except he wasn't sure this was a dream. He was fully conscious, his body corporeal. He shook his head in bemusement.

"_Ahh, you must be wondering what you're doing here? Forgive me for I often reminisce about my home. The dreams don't do it any justice."_

A woman emerged from the tall grass, materialising out of thin air. Draco was wary yet this dream didn't contain the malicious darkness that had plagued him for so long. No in fact, the energy around him was almost... maternal... comforting. He couldn't remember the last time he had experienced a mother's love... certainly his had been quick to abandon him under the directive of her new overlord.

Whoever she was, she was beautiful with skin the colour of polished ebony and eyes so golden Draco felt like looking away after glancing at her face, it was like looking into the son. Too bright... unworthy of a tarnished gaze like his.

"_Come child, I have waited for many moons to be able to speak to you like this. The least you can do is look at me." _

Her lilting voice carried with it the memory of great feasts, fire and the celebration of a powerful being. A woman to be respected and feared.

"I know who you are." he said huskily, wanting to walk closer to her but knowing that would be a mistake.

Her wicked smile was both playful and mysterious... showing him her long canines.

"_I never thought I would ever be inclined to use this form. However now that I'm in it I cannot help but enjoy the freedom that comes from being a biped." _

"You're the spirit of the Nandu"

"_You are remarkable clever for a human." _she replied, approval reflecting in her ancient yet girlish voice, _"My name is Suri... well it was before you humans hunted me down, killed me and stole my magic." _

"Why are you here? Talking to me?"

She didn't come any closer, but Draco could sense her leaving this moment in time... travelling backwards as she studied him.

"_You know my kind are nearly extinct now. In the savanna like a pride of lions my kind always stuck together but you humans cannot fathom a world where there are more powerful creatures than you... so you have made yourself the apex predators, the judge, the jury and the executioner. Hunting, killing and sometimes metering out justice as you see fit... to all. When they discovered our intelligence, our sentience... it was our death sentence. In the ancient days when man and beast was equal the Nandu never had to worry about death by the hand of a wizard, but as your magic evolved, we were left defenceless and hunting us became a sport... to show your prowess as one with magical ability. When magic began to die in our homeland and more and more the humans whom we so feared forgot about us and we became the monsters of lore, those you frighten your children with stories of but rarely believe exist, it was already too late. We had begun to die out "_

"Why are you telling me all this?" he asked confused, "And why have you never shown yourself to me before?"

"_I'm telling you this story, child... so that someone remembers and knows of pain that my kind went through. I had no wish to be your jailer, to hold you in wretched captivity in your own body but when He bound my magical soul to yours, I couldn't leave you... so broken... so vulnerable... so easily preyed upon by the darkness. As for you never seeing me before this... you simply weren't strong enough, my child." _

"So, what now?" he replied belligerently, "I'm strong enough now?"

"_Impertinent boy." _she admonished with a smile in on her face, her young-old eyes twinkling with laughter, _"Yes my dear, I do believe you to be strong enough now. Strong enough for me to offer you something." _

"Offer me what?"

"_Child, I know of the darkness that dwells within you. I know not of your human rituals and what arcane and obscene magic would bind the souls of beasts with those of a boy but in our kind such havoc and destruction on the independence and magic of one must never go unanswered. I don't wish to exist like this... this half entity, knowing who I am while being trapped within you. The Nandu are an ancient and venerable being, our intelligence was once touted in the Book of Solomon as we guided the ancient king. In fact, before the Romans and Christ, the ancient rulers of Babylon, of Samaria, of the Ottoman came to the Nandu for council." _

She looked at the ground, her fists clenched in frustration.

"_I desire freedom, my earthly form exists no longer. So, I come to you with a gift, a blessing... a solution to your divided soul and a way to combat the darkness within you." _

"What solution? And why offer it to me? The one who holds your presence captive."

"_Think of it as a gift... offered to you not out of the kindness of my heart but out of a desire to see our line progress... however bastardised." _

"What?"

"_I offer you my power, freely... a chance to meld my power with yours, without my soul. To make you a changeling, the only one of its kind... human and Nandu." _

"Why? Why do that for a species that has done what mine has done to yours?"

"_I cannot go back to the way I was before and I cannot live like this anymore, but I have seen within you Draco Malfoy. I have seen your pain and the darkness you fight so valiantly to keep at bay. These are the marks of a warrior, among my people you would be venerated..." _

"But I'm not a good man." He replied bitterly, "I could have..."

"_What child? Fought harder? Tried to save those unfortunate souls that lay rotting around you when they thrust us into you unwillingly? The mark of a great warrior my son isn't to be the last man standing once the battle is done but to be the man who forgoes the glory of recognition to help his wounded comrades gather themselves and fight on, in pursuit of a higher purpose. That is the mark of a great warrior." _

"And if I don't accept?"

"_You shall have half your soul back, damaged and wounded as before... but human._ _For I cannot bear to exist like this any longer, trapped without the freedom to run, to feel the dry air in my fur or to feel the suckle of my cubs upon my breast. But mark me well child, the dark entity within you... the one that fuels the magic that your overlord so desires will do anything and everything in its considerable power to snatch what is left of your humanity for itself." _

"Then I accept, I accept your generous gift, Suri... for my desire to be fully human again does not negate the price I must pay for having lived."

She just smiled, her presence... the one that had lulled Draco into easy acceptance becoming brighter and brighter until it burned him, and he felt it like it was shards of glass piercing his soul.

...

Hermione woke with a start, sprawled as she was atop Draco the change in his body temperature roused her.

Something was happening to him, she quickly picked up her clothes that were scattered about the room and redressed, watching as his skin took on an ethereal golden glow and rushed outside. Maybe something had gone wrong with the mating ritual? She felt her heart plummet to the depths of her belly. A fear like no other gripping her.

"Theo! 'Ti!" she called out, knowing that they must have been waiting for them to complete their mating, "Something is happening... you have to come quick! Please!"

She didn't have to wait long, the scrabbling from the other side of the door that closed Draco's section off from the rest of the castle indicated their presence. They both tried getting through at the same time, their faces a moue of worry.

"What is it? Did the spell not work?"

"I don't know but something is happening to him. You must hurry."

Inside the small study all three crowded around Draco Malfoy's prone form to watch the last of the golden light fade from his skin, his body morphing with it... growing taller, more muscular, the runes along his arms containing the Nandu disappearing causing Ma'ati to frown and curse but before she could reach out to touch him Theo stopped her.

"We don't know what is happening, no touching until we decide its safe, 'Ti." he frowned, his own face set in lines of fear.

Yet he continued to change, his hair grew longer and darker... going from its signature white blond to a darker golden... like the mane of a lion and his naked torso, bare before their ritual was now covered in a fine layer of blond fur.

They didn't have to wait long, his eyed snapped open almost immediately and Hermione lost her breath... one eye was his silver... mercurial and sly but the other... oh the other was the topaz of the Nandu... so bright that it looked like someone had hammered gold and set it into a sea of white.

Hermione felt a tug low in her belly... _mate _

And as he rose, unashamed of his nudity and Hermione was struck dumb...

His titanic size... superseded only by his enigmatic potency struck her silent... this wasn't Draco Malfoy... this was an ancient creature of God sent to mete out justice in the world.

Like he was hammered from Hephaestus's mythical hammer itself the change had taken him... from pain and darkness and made him into a glorious creature, one melded together in antiquity... a man who would slay and lay waste to all that stood in his path.

Draco had always been handsome yet now he wasn't just that... his animalistic grace held her in thrall, his raw power... so muted before rolled off his body in waves and his nearness overwhelmed and enthralled her... he was in untamed creature.

Uncaring of who saw them, he bent his head... looking Hermione dead in the eye before revealing in a feral smile his long, sharp canines.

He kissed her.

...

**Hogwarts, The Dark Lord's Stronghold **

**May 1999 **

"Tell me again Severus why I decided to eradicate the wolves?" hissed Voldemort, his eyes on the landscape outside the window... studying the bleakness of the razed ground around Hogwarts.

"Greyback was painfully insubordinate, my lord and his wolves as well."

"Indeed... I wonder now if it was a folly in my thinking to do so? After all your hypothesis on the magical beasts was an abysmal failure. Wolves may have been insubordinate, but they were useful beasts."

"Are there none left?"

"None left of what, my lord?"

"None who can sire me a new horde as a part of my army?"

"No, my lord, you had them eradicated during the Razing... except maybe..."

"What! What is it Severus?" Voldemort turned at the considering note in Snape's voice.

"They never recovered Remus Lupin's half-breed son's body. He would be a natural born wolf my lord... if he is still alive that is."

"A half-breed... how can we be certain he carries the gene?"

"We cannot my lord... until we find him that is."

...

**A/N- Hello all! Apologises for the long wait for this chapter but boy this quarantine is driving me mad! I've been trying to stay inspired, but it's been hard! Ofc I love your reviews so please leave me something nice to read! Lots of love and hugs!**


	15. Making Difficult Choices

**XIV**

**Stormhaven Castle, May 1999**

**Present Day **

Theo and Draco sat in silence as the former began to draw blood from Draco's arm in his laboratory up in the North Tower, he really didn't know an appropriate way to bring up the topic of what had gone on in Draco's study delicately.

"Just ask the question, you're clearly dying to." said Draco dryly, the amusement in his voice in direct contrast to the hard glitter in his heterochromatic eyes.

Theo studied him carefully, his slim fingers resting on his chin, "I wouldn't know where to begin honestly. Why don't you tell me what happened, what caused this sudden change?"

Draco shrugged, studying the vials of blood in front of him, "I always knew they were inside me, you know but what I experienced today." he shook his head, "I barely believe it myself, it's madness... to think that a creature with a soul just... existed... within me. She agreed to relinquish all her power to me, she had been holding on to the last dregs of it to fight the Shroud. I don't know how the magic of it works but I can feel the change. I'm no longer human."

"She?"

"She appeared female to me, the spirit must have been taken from a female Nandu..."

"This dark magic that Snape has given access to the Dark Lord to." said Theo quietly, "It could end us all, first what they did to you and all those innocent people from the Order that they experimented on and now... Merlin only knows..."

"Did she say why she had chosen to appear before you only now? All those months of struggle, the inability to control the Nandu's raw power, the pain of having the runes tattooed onto you... all of that could have been avoided."

"She just said that I hadn't been ready."

"So, the mating ritual had something to do with it?"

"Merlin, it's just a giant cosmic joke...all this." Draco shook his head, looking down at his hands like the secrets of the universe were in his palms. "A changeling, no longer human, half animal... my pure blood won't count for much now."

"You know it never counted for much anyway." scoffed Theo, "Blood purity is a myth perpetuated from the dawn of civilised society. Muggle or magical, the truth is that blood is just that...blood. We're all naked, blood stained sacks of flesh when we're born and that's exactly what we are when we die and any man who believes otherwise is deluding himself. Hell, in a hundred years even the accomplishments of the greatest of our race are forgotten and traded for the achievements of a new generation. We are specks in a universe that will crush us in its vastness and apathy, and we have deluded ourselves into thinking anything we do or say matters."

Draco laughed bitterly, "How right you are, my friend. It's not every day that one is reminded of ones insignificance in the grand scheme of things or is this just a special occasion?"

"This path we've chosen, Malfoy... very few outcomes are in our favour. Just think of this as preparation, in case all ends for naught. Sack of flesh or not, I've made my peace with death and perhaps it's time you did to. Even if it is a futile death."

"Why did you choose this, Nott? You could have said no when Blaise came to you."

"And have missed the opportunity to study the first human Nandu changeling to ever exist? Not a chance in hell, love." He grinned, his light-hearted smile belying the serious nature of the question.

"Nott when the time comes, and it will come... mark me, there will be another war and you may have chosen the wrong side, the weak side."

"'People living deeply have no fear of death'" he quoted philosophically patting Draco on his arm, "And _mon ami_, living under Voldemort is not living, not a full life, anyway. It is a life of drudgery and darkness and I'd rather give my life for freedom than continue to live a half-life."

"You're a fool." scoffed the blond, "But I am glad to have you on our side."

"I think it's time we told your lady the truth of what we have been doing." Theo said solemnly, "She deserves to know what we have dragged her into."

Suddenly the only tattoo on Draco's body that hadn't vanished in his transformation began to tingle... his Dark Mark.

"It seems telling Granger will have to wait." he said grimly, "I'm being summoned."

Theo shoved him towards the door, "Go, I'll be busy with these blood samples anyway and I'm sure Blaise will return shortly, I'll watch for Granger."

They clasped hands... hugging briefly, eyes conveying what words couldn't... make sure you look after her if I don't return, before Draco left from the servants entrance of the tower.

Theo watched from the window as Draco walked to the edge of the magical barrier and disappeared through it and though Theo wasn't a praying man, he sent one up just for good measure.

...

"Master Theo! You need to come here!" 'Ti's loud, panicked voice startled Theo. Absorbed as he was in his work, he had barely heard her calling out to him several times before. It had been a few hours since Malfoy left for what promised to be another distasteful and degrading errand from the Dark Lord.

Theo was, as scientists are won't to do sceptical of politics and any profession that's very foundation was built upon spinning the truth, after all his business was the truth, he peddled in nothing other than facts.

The fact was he looked at the world in a very black and white way until Voldemort assumed power, grabbing the keys to the coffers of the Ministry and subjugating the families and men who held power in their small communities to commit atrocities. The Razing, as they referred to it now had been the months after the Dark Lord's victory, wizards turning on each other. Currying favour with the very men they had fought against twenty years ago in the first war, helping the Death Eaters drag families with muggleborn wives, husbands and parents out of their homes. Murdering, burning down homes with children still within, capturing dissenting wizards and witches and throwing them into the dungeons of Hogwarts.

Now... he wasn't so sure of black and white, good people and bad, those who do terrible things during the times of atrocity and those who chose to stand up even when it is easier, painless to go along with.

He missed democracy. He found himself, for the first time in his life feeling the burden of what it was like to prove your humanity time and again.

"What, what is it?" he said, shaking himself free of his little reverie and poking his head out of his study's door to shoot her an irritated glare.

"Stop glaring. This is serious, you need to come outside. There is someone near the border of the castle."

"It could just be a muggle, Ma'ati. You know better than to bother me while I'm working."

"Any muggle you know who has a lightening shaped scar on his forehead?"

"Fuck! What is he doing here?" he swore roundly, "You can't be serious?" he shot her a disbelieving glance.

Theo didn't bother returning to his workbench to put any of his work away, as fastidious as he was. Harry Potter being anywhere near Stormhaven Castle was bad news, Harry Potter being anywhere in England was bad news.

He followed after the Orisha who knew all about where Blaise was keeping Potter and had clearly understood that if Potter was here... something had gone very wrong.

Catching sight of Hermione in the kitchen he quickly grabbed her arm.

"Questions later, we have a problem... come with me."

"Harry..." she whispered as soon as they stepped out of the castle catching sight of a familiar head of black hair, "It can't be...I thought he was dead." She turned to Theo, her gaze a mixture of censure and relief.

He understood that today had been a trying day for Hermione Granger, after all it isn't every day or week for that matter that you are brought to a mysterious castle, reunited with your long lost love, told that you need to help control the beasts forced inside him due to a sick experiment conducted by a sociopathic, reckless and wildly unstable wizard of questionable humanity, that you need to mate with him and then he leaves you to go do the very same wizards bidding.

Theo got it. He just didn't know if he had it in him to explain to her what exactly it all meant.

"I'm sorry, darling but now isn't the time for explanations. He shouldn't be here, I understand that you've only been here for a week but Potter being here could get us all killed." said Theo grimly.

"Something's wrong." Hermione said shaking her head, moving in his direction, "He looks like he's going to collapse. I have to get to him."

"No. Not you." Theo's eyes were hard, "'Ti will fetch him, it's her magic that guards Stormhaven Castle and the only reason we aren't all dead yet."

"Shall I bring him inside, Master Theo?"

"He looks half dead and he's bleeding, we can't leave him out there." said Hermione firmly, "Please, just get him in and if you don't, there isn't a fucking power in the world that is going to stop me from getting to him. Your choice."

Theo just nodded his head, his mouth set in a firm uncompromising line.

"Is this what you've been doing? Keeping him somewhere?" Hermione whispered, "Why?"

"To protect him. Granger our country is now officially a dead state in the eyes of the International Confederation of Wizards. No one is coming to help us, in fact other countries are actively receiving our muggle born witches and wizards as refugees but only the muggle born's, not even half-bloods or the pure bloods that had nothing to do with Voldemort. We managed to rescue Potter... or Blaise did, just barely. Because the resistance is dead, half have fled and the other half are hidden and scared, unable to flee. You have been hiding for months, you know nothing of what has gone on in our world since then. We did what we had to." He replied grimly

She grabbed his arm sinking her nails into his skin, "Then tell me! Why am I here, what is with all this secrecy? Just give me some answers. I'm not a naïve fool Theo Nott and I have been fighting Voldemort far longer than you have."

"I'm worried about what you'll do once you hear these answers." he replied, turning surprisingly clear and keen eyes to look at her, "Will you stay? When you know you have an option of leaving, after all you're a muggleborn. The most famous one in fact, the one who would be granted asylum in any country of her choosing. Where you could raise that wolf child of yours away from here... from the death and the destruction, you wouldn't need to stay; to fight when so many have fled... or died. The American's are clamouring after you, after all you're the only one from the trio who hasn't been declared dead yet. That bitch in the MACUSA is willing to open an agreement on trade if you are given up as a political refugee."

"You don't know me Theo Nott." she choked out. Her amber eyes blazing with rage, "If you think that I would abandon everything I believe in, everything that is good and just and right and run away. You know nothing about me."

"Don't I, Hermione Granger. Don't be a fool... we're all adults now, this is no longer a game of pretend, this our life now. Voldemort, Death-Eaters, the purging of any undesirable, slavery, poverty, starvation of those who couldn't afford to flee. That is our reality, it's no longer a maybe scenario to contemplate in our cosy tower rooms and in my experience you Gryffindor's seem to lose all semblance of sense when you aren't on the winning side."

"Master Theo." Ma'ati said softly, "Please."

"Blaise." rasped out a bloodless Harry Potter, leaning against Ma'ati's shoulder, "You have to go get him. Flint. The bunker... a raid."

Hermione watched Theo Nott's eyes grow as cold as ice as the words kept spilling out of Harry's mouth and his face contort into a viscera of rage.

Something had clearly gone very wrong.

...

Draco Malfoy was choking on the miasma that obscured his former rooms in Hogwarts, the dungeons that used to once house more than a dozen Slytherin's had been returned to their original use... to be used as a prison and a torture chamber whenever the mood stuck.

The bones of Hogwarts castle were those of an ancient warlord's holding, won after a bloody war with the Celts, once stripped of light, the fripperies that children bring and the warmth of humanity, Hogwarts was a terrifying maw of darkness.

Sometimes it seemed that the cold blue fires that now burnt in the castles many fireplaces gave off no light and didn't make the rooms warm, no in fact it seemed that these fires froze the air even more. Stormhaven tucked up as it was in the highlands still managed to emit a degree of warmth that Draco thought simply couldn't return to the halls of Hogwarts. Not anymore.

Like Malfoy Manor these walls were stained with so much blood that only a purging would managed to drive the curses and the grief of all those who lost their lives here, a lancing of fire to give their souls some rest in the afterlife.

He stood in front of the entrance of the dungeons where he had been bade to wait for the Dark Lord and his ever-faithful general Severus Snape. Unlike Voldemort, who the win and power grab had driven into a sense of complacency, Severus Snape remained ever alert.

Draco was reminded of Moody, 'constant vigilance' indeed, he was far more worried about Snape noticing a difference in his powers than the Dark Lord himself. He had to make it out of Hogwarts alive if he was to continue to fight their shadow battle to oust Voldemort and his death cult from power.

The Shroud was contained in a way he had never experienced before and for the first time in months he felt like himself, completely and fully in control. Except for the surging of new, hot power within his veins.

He knew it was his new changling blood getting accustomed to being confined in a human body in contrast to the Shroud's cold insidious darkness that slid across his heart every time he used its powers of Necromancy... this feeling was strange... like hot sparks at the tips of his fingers, filling his blood with a fizzy effervescence and giving him strength, physical and mental... grounding him but also altering him.

His senses seemed to be on a high, aware of every little sound around him... in fact he could hear the scuttling of a rat just beyond the door of the dungeons. The quite whooshing of a robe against the flagstones and the scent of decaying flesh let him know that soon he would be face to face with the Dark Lord.

"Ah Malfoy..." came a hissing, serpentine voice, "My little traitor."

Draco turned easily, noting dispassionately that with his now superior changeling strength he could easily have killed the Dark Lord there and then, had Severus Snape not been eyeing him with narrow suspicion.

"Something is different about you." said his former godfather, "More... unruly." He sniffed disdainfully. Draco supposed that was his form of greeting.

"Worry not Severus, little Draco knows that tis only my benevolence that is keeping him alive and the day he incurs my displeasure is the day that Stormhaven castle will be torn asunder brick by blessed brick by the Death Eaters and that what I did to him during his time in captivity would seem like naught but a stroll in the park in comparison."

Arrogant sod, thought Draco, raging... the Nandu's blood within him screaming to show this pitiful, scaly creature it's full magnificence by ripping it apart.

"My lord." He choked out instead, swallowing the bile that soured his mouth when he uttered those words.

"Come, enough of this chit-chat." said the Dark Lord, "Your Necromancy is required... for I have finally found a way to regain my lost vigour."

Draco followed them down the dark hallway bracing himself for what lay on the other side, his now acute senses warned him that his eyes would greet a sight like he had never seen before.

It smelt like death, decay and like a land that is harrowed by devastation. His ears picked up the sounds of wailing and his sensitive nose the smell of urine, blood and sexual fluid. He felt his throat close up, the sounds and smells of misery even more acute now. Splattered along the castle walls was the dried blood of the previous tenants of the prison cells and his newly strengthened vison could make out the age of each layer... some days old and some months old... some hours old.

The first cell at the beginning of the dungeons was the one they stopped in front of before the Dark Lord turned to him with a sick smile on his serpentine face... his narrow jewel like red eyes glittering with the kind of fanatic excitement one only sees in the face of a mad man.

"You will help us." he hissed, coming upto Draco... so close... too close... close enough for him to see the shining strands of saliva cling to his sharp canines... like the jaw of a snake open wide, poised to strike. "You will use your Necromancy to draw the magic out from the worthless muggle that Severus has treated."

"I can only use my magic on the dead." said Draco flatly, "Or those about to die."

Letting loose a frightening cackle Voldemort patted Draco's arm, "Worry not my boy... for die they shall."

Moving aside he allowed Draco to finally look into the filthy cell where a thin child lay slumped against the filthy stone wall, her small pink mouth slack and her blonde hair cropped carelessly close to her head.

She couldn't have been older than 12.

...

**Phrases used in the story- **

**MACUSA- Magical Congress of the United States of America **

**A/N**\- Hello all, one of my lovely reader's and a good friend **DorothyMalfoy** on fanfiction has been kind enough to compile a Necromancer's Bride playlist for those of you who would be interested in listening to some mood music while you read this story. I've been listening to it while working on these chapters! It's excellent for writing angsty content! Deffo give it a listen. As always please review! I love to hear what you guys have to say!

** playlist/1UR3FpPMTv3bkygsWQBfE0?si=gHBgcfDFR3KXatObCsTCxw**


End file.
